Huskies Blast Four Homeruns En Route to 18-6 Win Over Rutgers

Boxscore [.pdf]

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (April 24, 2005) – Four Huskies hit homeruns, including a grand slam by senior Jeff Hourigan (Beacon Falls, Conn.), as UConn totaled 21 hits en route to an 18-6 win over Rutgers on Sunday afternoon in Piscataway, N.J. The victory gave UConn the series win, its first at Rutgers in the history of Connecticut baseball. All 10 hitters reached base with every starter registering a hit. The Huskies are now 24-17 overall with a 6-8 BIG EAST record. Rutgers moves to 21-16, 8-6 in conference games.

Senior Russ D’Argento (Marlboro, Mass.) put the Huskies up quickly with a solo shot in the top of the first. The homerun was his third of the season to give UConn a 1-0 lead.

Rutgers jumped on top in the bottom of the second on a three-run homerun by Jon Gossard to move the score to 3-1.

UConn cut the lead to 3-2 when junior Austin Wasserman (Nashua, N.H.) led off the top of the third with a single through the right side. He stole second to get into scoring position and came home on a sac fly by senior Tony Mallozzi (Westboro, Mass.).

The Huskies then had a five-run fourth inning to vault ahead 7-3. Sophomore Josh Farkes (Boston, Mass.) led off with a single down the left line. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on an errant pick off attempt by the pitcher. Sophomore Larry Day (Amesbury, Mass.) brought Farkes home on a single to center. With one out, freshman Pat Mahoney (Des Moines, Iowa) added two more runs when he hit his first career homerun, a shot that fell over the left-field wall. Wasserman then reached on a hit-by-pitch in the next at-bat, and with two outs, Mallozzi singled back to the pitcher to put two runners on. Hourigan completed the scoring with a double to the left-center wall that brought home Wasserman and Mallozzi to give UConn a four-run lead.

Farkes increased the score to 8-3 when he started the fifth inning with a solo homerun of his own, his second of the season. The Scarlet Knights cut the lead to two at 8-6 in the bottom of the inning, scoring three more runs. The attempted rally was put to an end with a double play in which D’Argento caught a fly-out to center field and then threw it towards the plate to Day who received it in time to tag out Rutgers' Jeff Grose at home and end the inning.

UConn quickly rebuilt its lead, scoring a total of 10 runs in the last four innings. In the sixth, Wasserman doubled to the left-field wall to start the inning. After moving to third on a wild pitch, D’Argento scored Wasserman on a single to center. Freshman Vin DiFazio (Hampton, N.J.) brought in the second run of the inning on a double to put the Huskies ahead 10-6.

The seventh inning saw the Huskies score six more runs as the team batted around. Day and sophomore Dennis Donovan (Center Moriches, N.Y.) led off with singles, followed by Mahoney, who was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Wasserman and D’Argento both singled in a run to keep the bases loaded. Hourigan then stepped up and crushed a homerun over the left-center wall to add four more runs and collect his second-career grand slam. The fourth UConn homerun of the game was his sixth of the season. 

The last UConn runs were scored in the top of the ninth inning for the final score of 18-6. With one out, Mallozzi hit a single deep to second and proceeded around the bases on a wild pitch, passed ball and then came home on a wild pitch. Freshman Matt Karl (Wallingford, Conn.), pinch-hitting for DiFazio, drew a walk and advanced to second on the wild pitch that scored Mallozzi. Day then notched his second RBI of the game when he singled up the middle to bring home Karl and score UConn's final run.

The 18 runs and 21 hits by the Huskies were both season highs as seven players had multiple hits in the game. Day led the team, going 4-for-6 with two runs and two RBI. Hourigan drove in six runs on a 3-for-5 performance. Wasserman also went 3-for-5, scoring four runs with an RBI.

Junior starter Brendan McGinn (Tolland, Conn.) picked up the win to move to 4-4 this season. McGinn threw five innings with six runs on 10 hits, two strikeouts and a walk. Junior Joe Smeraglino (Shelton, Conn.) and sophomore Ted Garry (Rochester, Minn.) each pitched two innings of shutout ball to complete the game. Steve Holt of Rutgers was handed his first loss of the season to move to 3-1.

The Huskies look to continue their strong play Tuesday, April 26 when they take on Hartford. The game will be played in Simbury, Conn., with a start time of 6:00 p.m.