No. 18 Hookc Sweeps Road Series at Seton Hall With DH Sweep
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The No. 18 UConn baseball team (28-7, 6-0 BIG EAST) extended its win streak to nine by sweeping Saturday's doubleheader against Seton Hall that secured a road series sweep of the Pirates.
UConn grabbed a 3-2 win in game one and then followed it up with a 14-2 beat down to win its eighth straight game against the Pirates.
Former Seton Hall Pirate and UConn graduate transfer Casey Dana helped deliver big blows in both halves of the twin bill. The UConn outfielder smashed a two-run double in game one that followed an intentional walk to Erik Stock. The double put the Huskies ahead 2-0 in the third.
Starting pitcher Pat Gallagher (6-2) was superb with six shutout innings on the bump and earned his sixth win of the season.
Christian Fedko added a sacrifice fly in the seventh to provide a big insurance run and make it 3-0.
Ian Cooke logged 2.1 innings out of the bullpen and passed the baton to left-hander Brendan O'Donnell in the ninth with a pair of runners on. The Hull, Mass. native notched a strikeout to open his outing and then looked like he had gotten a fly out to end the ballgame. Unfortunately, the wind turned a routine fly out to left into a two-run double.
Justin Willis then came on and got a strikeout to strand the tying run at second and secure his eighth save of the season.
In game two, the Huskies jumped ahead in the third on a great base running play by Fedko. The 5 YR SR and team captain doubled and then came around to score on an infield single to make it 1-0.
Zach Bushling doubled the UConn lead with an RBI single to plate Stock in the fourth and push the lead to 2-0.
The UConn bats came alive in the fifth with a six-run frame that saw 10 Huskies bat in the inning. After an RBI triple from David Smith, Casey Dana provided the crushing blow with a bases-clearing double to make it 7-0 Huskies.
UConn delivered the knockout blow in the sixth inning with a five-run sixth that featured a three-run homer for 2 YR FR Bryan Padilla.
Enzo Stefanoni was fantastic with eight innings of two-run ball that moved the right-hander's record to 5-1 on the season.
Next up, the Huskies return home on Tuesday, April 19 to take on UMass at 3:05 p.m. at Elliot Ballpark.
Game Notes
- UConn has won eight straight against Seton Hall. The longest win streak in the lengthy all-time series between the old BIG EAST rivals.
- The series sweep at Seton Hall is the first in program history.
- The Huskies are 6-0 in conference play for the first time since starting 6-0 in 2017.
- Bryan Padilla's home run in the sixth inning of the series finale was the first home run for a Husky at Owen T. Carroll Field since George Springer homered on April 5, 2009. A span of 12 games between home runs.
Source: UConn Athletics
