Baseball Rolls Past Villanova 12-1

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STORRS, Conn. (March 28, 2008) — Sophomore Peter Fatse (Hampden, Mass.) went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles, two RBI and three runs scored as the University of Connecticut baseball team cruised to a dominating 12-1 win over Villanova on Friday afternoon at J.O. Christian Field in Storrs.

The win, which improved the Huskies to 12-10 on the season overall and 4-3 in BIG EAST play, was UConn's largest margin of victory over a conference foe in just over two years, dating back to a 13-1 triumph over Cincinnati on March 24, 2006. The Wildcats drop to 7-14 on the year and 0-4 on their league slate.

In addition to the 12-run, 12-hit offensive uprising for the Huskies, UConn got solid pitching in its complete victory, led by junior John Folino (Quincy, Mass.) who earned the win after throwing five innings which were blemished by just one unearned run while allowing three singles and a walk with five strikeouts. Folino retired each of the first nine batters he faced to open the game and threw 57 of his 86 pitches (66-percent) for strikes. A trio of freshmen, Mike Hashem (North Andover, Mass.), Ryan Mikalsen (Farmingdale, N.Y.) and Ted Hurvul (Monroe, Conn.) combined to shutout Villanova over the final four innings, each allowing one single and fanning a total of five Wildcats with two walks.

UConn opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman Mike Olt (Branford, Conn.) singled up the middle to open the frame and advanced to third when Fatse followed by taking a 2-0 pitch to the opposite field for a double over the head of a shallow-playing Matt McFolling in left. Freshman Mike Nemeth (Washington, N.J.) followed with an opposite-field two-bagger of his own to the gap in left center, plating both Olt and Fatse.

Four Huskies would score in the home half of the third inning to put UConn on top 6-0. Leadoff hitter Pierre LePage (Wolcott, Conn.) drew a walk to start off the rally, moved to second on a ground out by freshman Elliott Glynn (Los Altamos, Calif.) and crossed the plate a batter later when senior Pat Mahoney (Des Moines, Iowa) drove a single up the middle. An inning after his RBI double to left, Fatse delivered a two-out RBI double down the right field line to bring Mahoney homeward. The Huskies would load the bases after Nemeth was intentionally walked and freshman Joe Pavone (Rochester, N.Y.) drew one of his own. Junior Matt Burnett (Endicott, N.Y.) ripped a line drive single to left that would allow Fatse and Nemeth to score two of UConn's six runs on the day that came with two outs.

Villanova produced its lone run in the fourth inning after a costly error and RBI single by All-American Derek Shunk but UConn would respond dramatically with six runs of its own in the home half of the frame. The fourth showed UConn's knack for small ball as, after the team loaded the bases with one out, the Huskies scored each of their six runs in the inning on plays where the ball never left the infield. Olt picked up an RBI by drawing a walk, Fatse drove in a run with an infield single and Nemeth followed with an RBI walk of his own. With two outs and the sacks still full of Huskies, UConn picked up two more runs on a misplayed infield single by Burnett that allowed not only Olt to score, but also a hard-charging Fatse from second base. UConn reloaded the bases and LePage delivered another infield single to allow Nemeth to score.

From there the UConn pitching staff took over and never led the Wildcats creep back into the contest as the Huskies cruised to the 12-1 victory. In addition to Fatse's four hits, LePage, Mahoney and Burnett also enjoyed multiple-hit days for UConn with a pair of hits apiece. Nemeth and Burnett both drove in three runs in the contest.

Jordan Ellis took the loss for Villanova, yielding 10 runs, nine of which were earned, over 3.1 innings of work which saw the erratic Wildcat hurler allow eight hits and walk five. Shunk had three of Villanova's six hits in the game.

The Huskies and Wildcats will continue their three-game BIG EAST set on Saturday and Sunday with single games beginning at noon in Storrs.