Baseball Falls to Louisville 10-7 in BIG EAST Action

Connecticut vs Louisville Cardinals (3/21/08)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (March 21, 2008) — A six-run sixth inning extended the Cardinals' lead to three as the University of Louisville defeated the University of Connecticut baseball team 10-7 in BIG EAST Conference action on Friday afternoon at the Patterson Stadium.

The Huskies opened up today's scoring in the first inning, as they did in Thursday's game against the Cardinals. UConn earned the 1-0 advantage as freshman Elliot Glynn (Los Alamitos, Calif.) scored on a Pat Mahoney (Des Moines, Iowa) ground out to short. Glynn got on base with a triple to right center to earn the Huskies' first hit of the game.

UConn was able to add another run in the third to take a 2-0 lead as Matt Burnett (Endicott, N.Y.) earned a walk then stole second to get into scoring position for the Huskies. Glynn recorded his third double of the season to center field to score Burnett to extend the Huskies' lead.

But the Cardinals went ahead in the bottom of the fourth with three runs as Dan Mahoney (Boston, Mass.) walked the first two batters of the inning. Louisville made the freshman pay for his mistakes as Justin McClanahan doubled to left to score John Dao. Chris Dominguez followed with a shot to left to score both McClanahan and Andrew Clark. Again in the fifth, Louisville put a run on the board as Stewart Ijames walked and then advanced to second on a ground out and a fielding error. Ijames was able to score as Dao grounded out to short for the second out of the inning and the Cardinal's fourth run of the game.

The Huskies rallied in the top of the sixth as Mahoney reached base on a fielding error by the Louisville infield. He was able to score on a throwing error by the Cardinals while freshmen Mike Nemeth (Washington, N.J.) and Doug Elliot (Rocky Hill, Conn.) both singled for the Huskies. Freshman Joe Pavone (Rochester, N.Y.) scored his two classmates with a single to right as he recorded his fourth and fifth RBIs of the season. Burnett added another hit for the Huskies in the sixth and scored as freshman Pierre LePage (Wolcott, Conn.) placed a single to center field to score two more Huskies.

With a 7-4 UConn lead, the Cardinals attacked once again with their bats, recording six more runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead at 10-7. Dan Mahoney gave up two hits and one walk as he threw one wild pitch in the sixth before being relieved by junior John Folino (Quincy, Mass.). Folino came into the game with a 0.96 ERA and eight hits, but in one inning pitched, the junior allowed four hits and three earned runs, including three doubles.

The Huskies threatened in the top of the ninth inning as Glynn reached base on a fielder's choice plus an error on Louisville shortstop John Dao. With two outs, Pat Mahoney hit a 2-and-2 pitch deep to centerfield but the Cardinals were able to get a glove on it to take the BIG EAST victory 10-7 in 8.5 innings.

With the loss, the Huskies fall to 7-10 overall and 2-3 in BIG EAST play while Louisville improves to 11-5 on the year and 2-0 in the conference.

UConn's Dan Mahoney took the loss as he went five innings, allowing six earned runs, five hits and four walks. LePage finished the day 2-for-5 with two RBIs while Glynn went 3-for-5 with one RBI and one run scored.

UConn will return to action on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. against the Cardinals. The game will feature a live video webcast at Huskies All-Access, which can be found at www.UConnHuskies.com.

 -UCONN-