University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies split with St. John's
4/20/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
[box score l ]
STORRS, CT – The University of Connecticut baseball team bounced back from a 10-6 loss in Saturday’s first game to salvage the second game of a doubleheader with St. John’s, topping the Red Storm 16-10 at J.O. Christian Field.
UConn’s record stands at 18-16-0 overall and 8-7-0 in the BIG EAST while St. John’s holds a 21-16-0 record and 9-7-0 in the conference.
The Huskies got runs in the first six innings of the second game to take a commanding 15-6 lead. UConn got three in the first, plating two on a double by junior Peter Soteropoulos (Peabody, MA) and the third on an RBI single by sophomore Mike Mocerino (Northboro, MA). The Huskies added a run in the second on an RBI single by senior Cy Hess (Oakdale, CT) and then four in the third. A double by freshman Mike McDonough (Abington, MA) yielded two of the three UConn runs in the fourth, and Connecticut went on to add a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth on an RBI double by junior Dan Trubia (Tolland, CT) and RBI singles by Mocerino, Soteropoulos and senior Jon Gorrie (Northboro, MA).
St. John’s closed the gap in the eighth with four runs to make it 15-10, knocking out UConn starter Pat Sperone (Sicklerville, NJ) in the process. The senior right-hander worked 7.2 innings and allowed 10 runs on 15 hits while striking out and walking three. After freshman Joe Riley (East Hartford, CT) made his second appearance of the day and walked the only two batters he faced, junior Bob Barton (Carlisle, MA) came on to retire the last four batters of the game while allowing only one hit.
Hess, who finished the game 2-for-5 with four RBI and a double, also had two hits in the first game and extended his hitting streak to 19 games. Soteropoulos had the longest UConn hitting streak in recent memory earlier this season when he hit in 23 straight games.
In the day’s first game, St. John’s Charles Bilezikjian went 3-for-3 with four RBI to pace the Red Storm. St. John’s built a 4-0 advantage by the fifth but couldn’t hold onto it, as UConn scored five in the bottom half of the frame to lead 5-4. Soteropoulos brought home the inning’s first run after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Mocerino plated another after drawing a walk. After St. John’s starter Jim Wladyka was pulled in favor of Vinny Mannese, sophomore Mike Leonard (Vernon, CT) singled to right to score a run and junior Tyler Stefkovich’s (Westport, CT) single to left brought home two more.
St. John’s took back the lead for good in the sixth, hitting up UConn starter Jesse Carlson (Kensington, CT) and reliever Mike James (Roswell, GA) for five runs in the inning. Carlson worked 5.0 innings and surrendered six runs on eight hits while striking out four. James gave up three runs and four hits while hurling one inning.
Connecticut and St. John’s will finish its series on Sunday, April 21 at J.O. Christian Field. The game is scheduled to begin at noon.
Game 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E SJU 1 0 2 0 1 5 1 10 13 2 UConn 0 0 0 0 5 0 1 6 10 1Win: Klemm (4-2).
Loss: James (1-1).
Save: None.
E: SJ Kane, Cambra; UC Carlson.
LOB: SJ 7; UC 11.
2B: SJ Grunewald; UC McDonough.
HR: UC McDonough.
HBP: SJ Winter; UC Soteropoulos, Trubia.
SH: SJ Graiser, DeRosa; Mallozzi.
SB: SJ Graiser.
CS: SJ DeRosa.
Batteries: SJ Jim Wladyka (4.1), Vinny Mannese (0.1), Tom Klemm (2.1) and Asa Grunewald; UC Jesse Carlson (5), Mike James (1), Joe Riley (1) and Mike Leonard.
Game 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E SJU 1 0 3 2 0 0 0 4 0 10 16 2 UConn 3 1 4 3 2 2 0 1 X 16 17 2
Win: Sperone (3-4).
Loss: Holmes (5-2).
Save: None.
E: SJ Kane 2; UC Gorrie, McDonough.
DP: SJ 1.
LOB: SJ 11; UC 10.
2B: SJ DeRosa, Downs; UC Gorrie, Hess, Soteropouolos, Trubia, McDonough, Stefkovich.
3B: SJ DeRosa.
HBP: SJ Kane; UC Burnham 2, Maloney, McDonough.
SH: UC Mocerino, Stefkovich.
SF: SJ Martin; UC Hess.
SB: SJ Kane; UC Trubia.
CS: SJ Kane; UC Burnham.
Batteries: SJ GregHolmes (3), Jeff Ford (2), Keith Hansen (2.1), Vinny Mannese (0.2) and Josh Young; UC Pat Sperone (7.2), Joe Riley (0), Bob Barton (1.1) and Tyler Stefkovich.
