LePage Leads Huskies to Second Straight Victory with 14-6 Win over Penn State

Box Score

PALM BEACH, Fla. (March 11, 2008) — Freshman Pierre LePage (Wolcott, Conn.) went 5-for-6 with three RBIs as the University of Connecticut baseball team defeated Penn State 14-6 on Tuesday afternoon at the Santaluces Sports Complex in Palm Beach, Fla.

LePage led all Huskies with his five hits while adding three runs scored. Sophomore Peter Fatse (Hampden, Mass.) continued where he left off yesterday, driving in three runs, while going 3-for-5 on the afternoon. Fatse recorded his second homerun of the season when he knocked the ball out over the left field fence for a two-run blast.

UConn used a seven-run eighth inning to pull away from Penn State and take a commanding 14-6 lead. Dusty Odenbach (Rochester, N.Y.) started on the mound for the Huskies and threw 5.0 innings while giving up four hits and four runs. Erik Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) earned his first win of the year as she pitched two innings while striking out one and giving up three hits. Junior co-captain David Erickson (Stratford, Conn.), who was just approved to play by the UConn medical staff after breaking his fibula in during preseason, faced four batters in the eighth inning and earned his first strikeout of the year.

The Huskies attacked early, putting a run on the board in the bottom of the first inning as LePage reached base on a Penn State fielding error. Fatse followed with a double to left field to score LePage from first and give the Huskies the early lead. In the second, UConn added two more runs as freshman Mike Nemeth (Washington, N.J.) opened the inning with a single to left field. Freshman catcher Joe Pavone (Rochester, N.Y.) reached base on a fielders choice and was later hit home on a sophmore Harold Brantley Jr. (Silver Spring, Md.) single to center field. Brantley stole second and then scored as LePage knocked home yet another run with a single to center. LePage was able to score Brantley again in the fourth as he recorded another single to center field to put the Huskies up 5-1.

Penn State rallied in the top of the fifth, as they posted three runs to catch up to the Huskies and slim the lead down to one at 5-4. The two teams matched runs in the next two innings, as the Huskies recorded two more in the sixth while the Nittany Lions added one in the sixth and then one in the seventh inning.

But in the bottom of the eighth inning, UConn shut the door on the Nittany Lions by scoring seven runs to take an eight run lead. LePage started off the inning with a single and was moved to second on a Fatse bunt single. Both runners advanced as senior co-captain Pat Mahoney (Des Moines, Iowa) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a switch in pitchers for Penn State, freshman Mike Olt (Branford, Conn.) forced a walk and picked up his sixth RBI of the season. Senior Matt Karl (Wallingford, Conn.) also earned a walk and collected his third run batted in. right after Fatse was able to score on a passed ball.

Nemeth then came up big for the Huskies as he hit a single up the middle to score both Olt and Mahoney. The Huskies added another run as Matt Burnett (Endicott, N.Y.) hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Karl from third. The last run of the afternoon by the Huskies was by Pavone as he crossed the plate on yet another LePage hit. UConn finished the eighth with seven runs scored and four hits.

Doug Jennings (Pompton Plains, N.J.) closed out the game for the Huskies as he allowed two hits and struck out one batter in the top of the ninth inning.

Penn State was led by Bobby Jacobs, who completed the day going 2-for-4 with one run scored. Ryan Stobart took the loss for the Nittany Lions, while he drops to 0-1 on the season. Stobart pitched 5.1 innings while allowing 10 hits and four earned runs.

Nemeth finished the day with a 3-for-4 performance while Brantley added one hit and three runs scored.

UConn will face Penn State again on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. to finish up play at the Papa John's Palm Beach Challenge. This is the Huskies last match-up before beginning BIG EAST Conference play on Friday, March 14 at Georgetown.

 -UCONN-