Baseball Picks Up 14-10 Victory Over Pittsburgh

Connecticut vs Pittsburgh (May 15, 2008)

PITTSBURGH, Pa. (May 15, 2008) — Freshman Mike Olt (Branford, Conn.) recorded his 11th homerun of the season as the University of Connecticut baseball team defeated Pittsburgh 14-10 in BIG EAST action on Thursday night at Trees Field.

The Huskies improve to 25-28 on the year and 9-16 in BIG EAST play while Pittsburgh falls to 8-17 in the conference and 19-32 overall.

Freshman Elliot Glynn (Los Alamitos, Calif.) forced a walk with one out in the first inning and later scored along with teammate Pat Mahoney (Des Moines, Iowa) to put the Huskies up 2-0 early in tonight's conference match-up. Sophomore Peter Fatse (Hampden, Mass.) recorded the RBIs on the play with a single, for his 56th hit of the season.

Sean Conley singled up the middle to lead off for the Panthers in the bottom of the inning then advanced to second on a balk. A single by Morgan Kielty loaded the bases before Dan Williams grounded into a double-play. The Panthers were able to put one run on the board to move within one.

Glynn started things off once again in the third, as he reached base on an error then advanced to second on a passed ball to get into scoring position. A single from fellow classmate Mike Olt (Branford, Conn.) scored Glynn before freshman Mike Nemeth (Washington N.J.) doubled to left field to put runners on second and third. Senior Brad Olt (Branford, Conn.) added to the Huskies' tally in the third with a two-RBI single to left to put UConn up 5-1.

UConn added three more runs in the fourth inning as Mike Olt recorded his team-leading 11th homerun of the season with a blast over the center field wall. Glynn started off the inning with a one out single, which was followed by a Mahoney walk to put two runners on for Olt's three-run shot.

The Panthers got a run back to make the score 8-2 as Dan Williams led off the inning with a solo homerun to left field. But the Huskies battled back to make the score 9-2 as senior Gordon Stevens (Vista, Calif.) scored an unearned run off contact by freshman Pierre LePage (Wolcott, Conn.), who reached base on a fielding error by Williams. Stevens reached base on another fielding error by the Panthers' defense as Kielty mishandled the ball at first to allow Stevens to get on base safely.

Mike Olt scored on a Fatse single to left field in the top of the sixth inning after reaching base on Pittsburgh's fourth error of the game. Nemeth, who got on base on a walk, scored the Huskies' second run of the inning on a Harold Brantley, Jr. (Silver Spring, Md.) single to right field. LePage picked up his first hit of the game as he batted in Brad Olt from second base to make the score 12-2.

Pittsburgh scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on five hits off UConn's starter, junior John Folino (Quincy, Mass.). Folino left the game after seven innings pitched as he allowed 11 hits and six runs. He also recorded four strikeouts on the night in his fourth win of the season.

Erik Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) took the mound for the Huskies in the eighth and allowed three straight walks to give the Panthers' their seventh run of the game to move the Pittsburgh ball club to within six runs at 13-7. Ted Hurvul (Monroe, Conn.) took over for Turgeon with no outs in the eighth and with the bases loaded as he also walked his first batter faced, making the score 13-8. After a sacrifice fly by Panthers' Chris Tonte, Hurvul was able to get Kielty to fly out right field to end the inning.

The Huskies took advantage of the Panthers' defensive errors once again, as Glynn reached base on a fielding error then scored on a sacrifice fly by Nemeth.

Senior Matt Karl (Wallingford, Conn.) took the mound for the Huskies in the bottom of the ninth and closed out the game as the Huskies took a 14-10 victory, despite allowing a solo homerun to Pittsburgh's Leonard.

Glynn finished the night with two hits and four runs scored, while Mike Olt added two hits and four RBIs.

The Huskies will face Pittsburgh again tomorrow, Friday night, at 6:00 p.m. before finishing up the regular season schedule with a noon time game on Saturday.

-UCONN-