University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn drops a pair to Rutgers
4/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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PISCATAWAY, NJ (April 14) – The University of Connecticut baseball team dropped a doubleheader on Sunday to BIG EAST foe Rutgers, falling 6-1 in the first game and 5-2 in the second at the Class of ‘53 Complex.
UConn’s record dropped to 15-14-0 overall and 7-6-0 in the BIG EAST. Rutgers improved its mark to 18-14-0 overall and 8-6-0 in the conference.
The Huskies could only manage a single run in the day’s first game, as Rutgers’ Tom Wheeler went all seven innings while yielding seven hits. UConn pushed its run across in the sixth to cut the Scarlet Knights’ lead to 3-1, though Rutgers answered back in the bottom half of the frame with three runs to close the door.
Senior Pat Sperone (Sicklerville, NJ) pitched six innings and gave up six runs–all earned–on 11 hits while striking out and walking one. Classmate Cy Hess (Oakdale, CT) was the only UConn player with two hits in the game and had the lone RBI.
Things didn’t get much better for the Huskies in the second game, as Rutgers took a 1-0 lead in the first. UConn tied things up in the sixth on a sacrifice fly to center field by junior Peter Soteropoulos (Peabody, MA). The score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the seventh, when Rutgers mounted a rally after its first two batters of the inning were retired by freshman right-hander Nick Tucci (Medford, MA). The Scarlet Knights strung together four straight hits, the last a three-run home run by Val Majewski off reliever Bob Barton (Carlisle, MA), to take a 5-1 lead into the eighth.
Tucci dropped to 2-2 on the season and went 6.2 innings while giving up four earned runs on nine hits. He also struck out five Rutgers batters and issued four walks.
Connecticut will next travel to Holy Cross for a game postponed from March 21. The game is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.
Game 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E UConn 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 0 Rutgers 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 2
Win: Wheeler (6-1).
Loss: Sperone (2-4).
Save: None.
E: UC Trubia; RU Sweeney.
LOB: UC 3; RU 6.
2B: RU Dadger, Cerulo.
SH: RU Vasquez.
SB: UC Gorrie; RU Badger.
CS: UC Hess, Soteropoulos, Leonard.
Batteries: UC Pat Sperone (6) and Mike Leonard; RU Tom Wheeler (7) and Alberto Vasquez.
Game 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E UConn 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 7 0 Rutgers 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 X 5 11 1
Win: Winters (1-1).
Loss: Tucci (2-2).
Save: Molchan (7).
E: RU Winters.
DP: UC 3; RU 2.
LOB: UC 5; RU 6.
2B: RU Normane.
HR: RU Majewski.
HBP: UC Tokarz, Frazier.
SH: UC Mocerino; RU Sweeney.
SF: UC Soteropoulos.
SB: UC Hess, Burnham.
CS: UC Hess.
Batteries: UC Nick Tucci (6.2), Bob Barton (1.1) and Mike Leonard; RU David Santiago (5.1), Sean Atchison (0.2), Brian Winters (1.2), Ryan Molchan (1.1) and Alberto Vasquez.
