Baseball Collects School-Record 33rd Win in 13-6 Defeat of Hartford

Boxscore [.pdf] 

STORRS, Conn. (May 18, 2005) – The University of Connecticut baseball team defeated Hartford by a score of 13-6 on Wednesday afternoon as the Huskies recorded their 33^rd win of the season to set a new school record. UConn is now 33-20 this season, topping the previous mark of 32-17 set in 2000. Hartford fell to 6-27 with the loss.

Senior Jeff Hourigan (Beacon Falls, Conn.) got UConn on the board early with a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning. The homerun, his third grand slam of the season, was his ninth overall this year, setting a new career high. The blast over the left-center wall scored junior Austin Wasserman (Nashua, N.H.), along with seniors Russ D’Argento (Marlboro, Mass.) and Tony Mallozzi (Westboro, Mass.) to put the Huskies up 4-0.

After allowing a run in the top of the second, UConn scored twice in the bottom of the inning to increase the lead to 6-1. Freshman Pat Mahoney (Des Moines, Iowa) led off the inning with a double down the left line, followed by sophomore Dennis Donovan (Center Moriches, N.Y.) who singled to right center. Wasserman then doubled to score Mahoney, with D’Argento grounding out to shortstop to bring home Donovan.

The Hawks tallied two more runs in the top of the third when Frank Cipolla hit a two-RBI single to center field to cut the UConn lead to 6-3. Sophomore Josh Farkes (Boston, Mass.) manufactured a run in the bottom of the inning as he reached on a single to left, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and eventually came home on a sac fly by classmate Matt Untiet (Berlin, Conn.) to move the Huskies ahead 7-3.

Hartford came within two runs in the seventh, scoring twice in the top of the inning to cut the lead to 7-5. But UConn responded in the bottom of the inning, exploding with six two-out runs to pull away 13-5 as the team batted around. D’Argento got the offense going with a deep infield single at shortstop. After stealing second, he came around to score on a double by Mallozzi. Hourigan reached on a hit-by-pitch, followed by Farkes singling to right field to bring home Mallozzi. Junior Steven Malinowski (Kensington, Conn.) then cleared the bases, scoring Hourigan and Farkes on a double to the center field wall. After a base on balls by Untiet, Malinowski came home on a single by Mahoney. Donovan, who led off the inning, then notched the third double of the inning to score Untiet. The inning finally concluded when Wasserman grounded out to first base.

The Hawks tallied one more run in the top of the eighth, but could not get any closer as the Huskies held to their 13-6 lead for their record-setting win.

Freshman Mike Tarsi (Danbury, Conn.) started the game and moved to 3-0 as he collected the win scattering three runs on five hits with a career-high seven strikeouts while walking two. Junior Joshua MacDonald (Milford, Conn.), freshman David Erickson (Stratford, Conn.) and sophomore Ted Garry (Rochester, Minn.) each pitched an inning to close out the game. The game was Erickson’s team-leading 22^nd appearance, while Garry tallied his 21^st.

Mallozzi led the UConn bats, going 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. Donovan, Mahoney, Farkes and Hourigan also had multi-hit games with each going 2-for-4. Hourigan tallied a team-high four RBI on his grand slam homerun.

The game against Hartford marked the conclusion of UConn’s non-conference schedule. The Huskies will conclude their regular season this weekend with a three-game series against Boston College May 20-21 at J.O. Christian Field. The two teams face off in a doubleheader on Friday and a single game on Saturday, with action beginning at 12:00 p.m. both days. Prior to Saturday’s game, Connecticut will play tribute to its three seniors, D’Argento, Hourigan and Mallozzi, in the Hartford Courant careerbuilder.com Senior Salute.