Huskies Defeated by Notre Dame, 9-7

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (April 17, 2005) – The University of Connecticut fell to Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon by a score of 9-7 at Frank Eck Stadium in South Bend, Ind. The Fighting Irish scored five runs in the seventh as they rallied to defeat UConn and take all three games in the series. The Huskies are now 21-14 overall with a 4-7 mark in the BIG EAST. Notre Dame moves to 20-15 and 8-4 against league opponents.

In the top of the first inning, senior Tony Mallozzi (Westboro, Mass.) was the first Husky to get on base as he knocked a single that hit first base and trickled down right line. Notre Dame then had to make a quick pitching change as sophomore Larry Day (Amesbury, Mass.) hit a line drive back to starting Irish pitcher Jeff Manship. Day was out on the play, but forced Manship to leave the game with an injury to his pitching hand. Jeff Samardzija then entered the game to pitch and got Jeff Hourigan (Beacon Falls, Conn.) to ground out, leaving Mallozzi stranded at second.

The Huskies scored in the next inning to take a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Josh Farkes (Boston, Mass.) knocked his first pitch through the left side for a single. He then stole second on a failed pitch out attempt by the Irish. With one out, fellow sophomore Dennis Donovan (Center Moriches, N.Y.) singled up the middle to bring home Farkes and put UConn on a board.

UConn then added two more runs in the fourth inning to push the score to 3-0. Hourigan led off the inning with a single to left field. After a ground out by Farkes, Russ D’Argento (Marlboro, Mass.) drew a four-pitch walk to put runners on first and second. With two outs, freshman Matt Karl (Wallingford, Conn.) then came through with a single up the middle to score Hourgian. D’Argento also scored when the center fielder overthrew the ball to third allowing him to score on the error.

Notre Dame came back to tie the game at 3-3 as the Irish slammed two homeruns in the bottom of the inning. Matt Edwards cut the lead to two on a solo shot to straight-away center. With two outs and a runner on second, Cody Rizzo blasted the ball over the left-center wall to even the game at three apiece.

The Huskies went back on top in the fifth, as junior Austin Wasserman (Nashua, N.H.) hit a triple to the right-center wall. Mallozzi then collected an RBI when he hit a sac fly to center that scored Wasserman and put UConn ahead 4-3.

The Irish took the lead for the first time in the game scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning as the team batted around. The Huskies could have closed out the inning with just one run allowed, but an error by Wasserman at second base that would have been the third out continued play as Notre Dame scored four more runs to go up 8-4.

Connecticut responded as Hourigan quickly cut the lead in half with a two-run home run over the right field wall in the top of the eighth. Day also scored on Hourigan’s fifth homer of the season. With two outs, D’Argento then hit at an infield single to the shortstop, and stole second to get into scoring position. Donovan notched his second clutch hit of the game with another RBI single up the middle that scored D’Argento to bring the Huskies within one at 8-7. With runners at first and third, Irish pitcher Ryan Doherty got freshman pinch-hitter Pat Mahoney (Des Moines, Iowa) to ground out to short to cut the UConn rally short.

Notre Dame added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning, to move the score to 9-7. The Huskies were unable to get any offense going in their last at-bats and the Irish took the victory to win all three against UConn in the weekend series.

McGinn registered the loss to move to 3-4 overall. He allowed eight runs, four of which were earned, on seven hits with a walk and strikeout in 6.2 innings. Freshman David Erickson (Stratford, Conn.) made his third relief appearance of the weekend, but faced only two batters with a hit and a walk before being replaced with junior Joshua MacDonald (Milford, Conn.). MacDonald finished the game, throwing 1.1 innings with a run, a hit, a walk and a strikeout. Samardzija moved to a perfect 5-0 with the win.

UConn out-hit Notre Dame 11-9 in the game. Mallozzi, Hourigan and Donovan each went 2-for-4 in the game. Hourigan and Donovan both drove in two runs. The senior duo of D’Argento and Hourigan both scored two runs. 

Connecticut will next play host to Fairfield on Tuesday, April 19 at J.O. Christian Field with the game beginning at 3:00 p.m.