University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn grabs last game against West Virginia
4/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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MORGANTOWN, WV (April 7) – After getting swept by West Virginia in a doubleheader on Saturday, the University of Connecticut baseball team bounced back Sunday afternoon to down the Mountaineers in extra innings, 15-9, at Hawley Field.
Connecticut improved to 13-11-0 overall and 7-3-0 in the BIG EAST. West Virginia fell to 15-11-0 overall and 6-4 in the conference.
The Mountaineers took the early lead after scoring two in the bottom of the first, though the Huskies tied things up in the third thanks to some errant West Virginia pitching. After loading the bases and with two outs, UConn scored a pair of runs when junior Dan Trubia (Tolland, CT) drew a walk and sophomore Mike Mocerino (Northboro, MA) was hit by a pitch. West Virginia, however, took back the lead in the bottom half of the frame to make it 3-2.
The Huskies responded with a monster sixth inning in which they plated six runs. UConn loaded the bases with no outs and scored its first run on a sacrifice fly to left field by senior Cy Hess (Oakdale, CT). Things then took a turn for the worst for the West Virginia pitching staff, as Dustin Nippert hit junior Brett Burnham (South Windsor, CT) to bring home another run. A pitching change brought Joe Van Gorder to the mound, who promptly walked the next three UConn batters and was pulled in favor of Todd Dunham. The first batter he faced was Mocerino, who singled to center field to score the final two runs of the inning.
The Huskies added another run in the sixth on an RBI single by freshman Tony Mallozzi (Westboro, MA) to take a 9-4 lead, but West Virginia erased the deficit with a five-run seventh. Freshman right-hander Nick Tucci (Medford, MA) left the game in the frame having worked 6.1 innings and given up six runs on eight hits. His replacement, freshman Josh MacDonald, surrendered hits to the three batters he faced and gave up three runs without picking up an out. Sophomore Mike James (Roswell, GA) came in to get the final two outs of the frame.
With the score tied at 9-9 after nine innings, UConn exploded in the top of the 10th for another six-run inning. Mallozzi started things off with a walk and then moved to second on a ground out. An intentional walk to Hess and hit-by-pitch to Burnham loaded the bases for junior Peter Soteropoulos (Peabody, MA), who singled to short to plate a run. Trubia then walked to bring home a run, and Mocerino’s sacrifice fly to right brought home another. Sophomore Mike Leonard (Vernon, CT) and freshman Mike McDonough (Abington, MA) added the finishing touches, with the former driving in two with a double to left-center and the latter singling home UConn’s last run of the afternoon.
James walked the first West Virginia batter in the bottom half of the 10th but retired the next three to pick up his first win of the season. The right-hander gave up only one hit in 3.2 innings while striking out three and walking two.
Leonard ended the day going 2-for-5 with a game-high four RBI while both Trubia and Mocerino had three RBI apiece. Trubia, who didn’t get a hit on the day, picked up all of his RBI with three walks.
Connecticut will next play at Rhode Island on Tuesday, April 9, at 3 p.m. The Huskies were held to only two hits by the Rams in a 5-0 loss on April 2.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E UConn 0 0 2 6 0 1 0 0 0 6 15 16 1 WVU 2 0 1 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 9 12 2Win: James (1-0).
Loss: DiAngelo (0-1).
Save: None.
E: UC Tucci; WV McCabe, DiAngelo.
LOB: UC 18; WV 7.
2B: UC Leonard; WV Blevins, Psomas, Frownfelter, Rine.
HR: WV Frownfelter.
HBP: UC Burnham 2, Mocerino, McDonough.
SH: UC Stefkovich, Mocerino, Leonard; WV Grimm.
SF: UC Hess, Mocerino.
SB: UC Hess.
CS: UC Soteropoulos; WV Grimm, D’Amico.
Batteries: UC Nick Tucci (6.1), Josh MacDonald (0), Mike James (3.2) and Mike Leonard; WV Dustin Nippert (3.1), Joe Van Gorder (0), Todd Dunham (4.0), Derek Smith (0.1), Jason DiAngelo (1.2), Marty Fagler (0.2) and Travis D’Amico.
