Baseball Runs Past Sacred Heart with 7-2 Victory

Box Score

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (March 18, 2008) — The University of Connecticut baseball team defeated in-state opponent Sacred Heart University 7-2 on Tuesday afternoon at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard.

The Huskies improve to 7-8 overall with today’s victory while the Pioneers drop to 1-13 on the year. The Huskies took an early two-run lead in the first inning and never looked back as sophomore pitcher Dusty Odenbach (Rochester, N.Y.) went six innings while allowing just four hits.

In the top of the first, the Huskies put a run on the board early as freshman Pierre LePage (Wolcott, Conn.) earned a lead-off walk then stole his fifth base of the season to get into scoring position. Fellow classmate Elliot Glynn (Los Alamitos, Calif.) hit a single thru the left side to advance LePage to third and put runners on the corners for the Huskies with no outs. Senior co-captain Pat Mahoney (Des Moines, Iowa), UConn’s No. 3 batter smacked an infield grounder to the right side of the field to score LePage on a fielder’s choice as Glynn was out at second.

Freshman Mike Nemeth (Washington, N.J.) earned a walk to load the bases before freshman Doug Elliot (Rocky Hill, Conn.) forced a two-out walk to record his fourth RBI of the season as Glynn scored from third.

Sacred Heart threatened in the bottom of the first as UConn starting pitcher Odenbach walked the lead-off batter. Odenbach was able to get out of trouble as he forced a groundout then struck out Pioneer leading slugger Jeff Hanson on a high inside curveball before getting the next SHU batter to fly out to left field.

In the top of the second the Huskies threatened once again, as LePage started a Husky rally with a one-out single to right center. LePage followed with his sixth stolen base of the year and the second of the game to get into scoring position as Mahoney was able to line a base hit through the middle to score LePage and put the Huskies up 3-0.

The start of the bottom of the third found Sacred Heart getting the lead-off man on base for the third consecutive inning but for the third straight time the Huskies shut down Sacred Heart’s hope of putting their first run on the board.

Mahoney led off the fifth with a walk before moving to second with a stolen base and then scoring on a fielding error by the Pioneer shortstop. Olt reached base on the error then recorded the Huskies fourth steal of the game. Sophomore Peter Fatse (Hampden, Mass.) was given first after being hit by the pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. After a double steal, Mahoney scored from third on a Nemeth groundout to first to give the Huskies a 5-0 cushion. Elliot recorded his second RBI of the game with an RBI single thru the left side to score Fatse and extend the Huskies’ lead to six.

In the top of the sixth, Pioneers’ relief pitcher Chris Zacario came into the game for the Sacred Heart pitching staff and retired the first two batters in a timely manner. But back-to-back walks to Mahoney and Olt gave the Huskies another chance to extend their lead. Which they did, as Fatse singled thru the right side of the field to score Mahoney and go up 7-0.

Sacred Heart threatened in the sixth with runners on the corners with one out. The Pioneers were able to put a run on the board as a slider got away from Odenbach and went into the backstop, giving Sacred Heart a chance to score their first run of the game.  

Sophomore Doug Jennings (Pompton Plains, N.J.) came into the game to throw for the Huskies in the bottom of the seventh and walked Sacred Heart’s lead-off batter. After a single to the right center gap, the Pioneers put runners at the corners with one out. With a full count on the batter, Jennings was able to pick off the runner at first to get the second out of the inning as the Pioneers were able to score their second run of the game.

UConn sophomore Will Musson (Wethersfield, Conn.) was put on the mound in the bottom of the ninth to close out the game for the Huskies. Musson was able to round out three consecutive outs to end the game at 7-2 in UConn’s favor.

Pioneers starting pitcher Balbach went two innings while allowing four hits and three runs while Jack Wagner came into the game in the top of the third. Wagoner pitched three innings and gave up one hit and three runs. Chris Zaccherio came into the game in the sixth and gave up one run, one hit and three walks to five batters faced.

Odenbach recorded four strikeouts in six innings pitched while allowing four hits and one run on a wild pitch. With the Husky victory Odenbach’s record improves to 1-1 on the season.

The Huskies will return to action on Thursday as they travel to Louisville, Ky. for a three-game BIG EAST Conference series against the Louisville Cardinals. The Thursday and Friday match-ups are set for 3:00 p.m. while Saturday’s series finale will begin at 1:00 p.m.

 -UCONN-