Box
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Score (.html)
STORRS,
CT (May 19) -- Freshman Rich Sirois threw seven solid innings on the
mound to lead the University of Connecticut baseball team to a 6-2 win
over Northeastern on Wednesday afternoon at J.O. Christian Field in
Storrs. The Nutmeg State’s Huskies improve to 25-27-1 with the win
while the Boston breed of Huskies dip to 27-16 with the loss.
Northeastern opened the scoring when Miguel Paquette sent the first
pitch of the third inning to the right field fence for a triple,
scoring two batters later on a Mike Steinberg sacrifice fly. The UConn
Huskies did not roll over however, answering twice in the home half of
the frame. Tony Mallozzi reached on a deft bunt single, advanced to
second when Dave Tokarz was hit by a pitch, and scored on a Marc
Peluso shot through the right side of the infield. Jeff Hourigan’s
sacrifice fly plated Tokarz with the rally’s second run.
UConn extended its lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth. The
Huskies loaded the bases on a bunt single, error and hit by pitch for
Peluso with two outs. The senior drew a walk to earn his second RBI of
the game but Adam Ottavino would come out of the Northeastern Husky
pen and stop the UConn Husky threat. Northeastern got a run of its own
in the fifth when Paquette led off by crushing a ball well over the
fence inside of the right field foul pole.
UConn added two critical insurance runs in the seventh inning and
one more in the eighth to account for the 6-2 final. A Tim Dempsey
sacrifice fly and a Larry Day single to center field plated runs in
the seventh, while a D’Argento sacrifice fly did the trick in the
eighth. Both D’Argento and Peluso finished the game with three hits
for UConn.
Sirois went seven innings on the mound for UConn, yielding just two
runs on eight hits with six strikeouts against no walks. In a strong
outing that improved his record to 3-3 on the year, Sirois threw a
strike on 76 of his 99 pitches. Hourigan and Mike James both threw a
perfect inning of relief. In all, UConn pitchers retired NU’s final 10
batters to help ensure the victory. Starter Paul Koslowski took the
loss for Northeastern, giving up three runs in 3.2 innings of work.
UConn will wrap up its 2004 season this weekend as the Huskies play
host to West Virginia in a three-game BIG EAST series. The teams will
play a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday with both
dates beginning play at 12:00 p.m. Saturday’s twin-bill will see a
special ceremony between games to retire the numbers of legendary
coaches J.O. Christian, Larry Panciera and Andy Baylock.
