University of Connecticut Athletics
UMass vs. UConn preview
4/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Warming Up: The Huskies will take on Rhode Island in Kingston, RI, on Tuesday before returning home for the match-up with Massachusetts (a make-up of the game originally scheduled for March 26) on Wednesday. UConn faced the Rams last week and were held to only two hits by Rhode Island pitcher Mike Harris in a 5-0 loss.
Battle at West Virginia: After getting swept by West Virginia in a doubleheader on April 6, Connecticut bounced back the following day to down the Mountaineers in extra innings, 15-9, at Hawley Field. UConn 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.
Down 3-2 after three innings, the Huskies responded with a monster sixth 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. Things then took a turn for the worst for the West Virginia pitching staff, as Dustin Nippert hit junior Brett Burnham 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 sophomore Mike 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 to take a 9-4 lead, but West Virginia erased the deficit with a five-run seventh. Freshman right-hander Nick Tucci left the game in the frame having worked 6.1 innings and given up six runs on eight hits.
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, who singled to short to plate a run. Junior Dan Trubia then walked to bring home a run, and Mocerino’s sacrifice fly to right brought home another. Leonard and McDonough 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.
Sophomore Mike 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.
The Last Meeting: On April 17, 2001, Massachusetts defeated UConn, 11-3, behind a grand slam by Gavin Clark. UMass, which tallied seven of its 11 runs in the seventh and eighth innings, got on the board first in the opening frame when Clark grounded out to second to push across Sean Sarno. In the bottom of the third the lead increased to 3-0 when Connell Clark doubled in Sarno and Nick Gorneault.
The teams would exchange runs in the fifth with Mike Mocerino sending a solo shot over the fence in left center for his second homer of the season. The Minutemen scored retaliated when Gorneault’s single to left plated Sarno, who crossed home four times on the day.
In the sixth, a throwing error by UMass catcher Tom Ellerbrook allowed UConn’s Brian Tisbert to cut the lead to 4-2. After the grand slam in the seventh, a Ryan Treat single in the eighth allowed Cy Hess to score the Huskies’ final run of the contest. UMass added three more in its side of the eighth, two of which came on Dan Trubia’s third error of the day. Trubia did what he could to make up for it at the plate, however, as he went 3-for-4 on the day.
On the mound, Paul Melzen took his first loss of the season as he went four innings–his longest outing of the season–giving up six hits, four earned runs and walking two. For UMass, David Loonie earned his first win of the season. Loonie went seven innings, allowing five hits, two runs (one earned), while walking two and striking out three.
The Series: The Huskies are 66-65-2 all-time against the Minutemen since their first meeting in 1900.
Scouting UMass: The Minutemen have lost four of their last five with a game left to play against Holy Cross on Tuesday before traveling to Storrs, CT. Aaron Senez leads the UMass offensive attack and has a team-best .397 average and 21 RBI. Jesse Santos heads the pitching staff with a 4-1 record and a 3.15 ERA in 45.2 innings of work.
Inside the Numbers:
Batting Avg. R H HR RBI SLG% BB SO SB-ATT Massachusetts .266 108 192 13 96 .368 60 160 28-45 Connecticut .298 168 237 18 153 .443 98 163 28-47 Pitching ERA W-L SV IP H R BB SO Opp. BA Massachusetts 6.05 8-14 2 286.0 193 163 129 129 .278 Connecticut 5.20 13-11 5 200.2 227 146 88 175 .284Record Books: Sophomore closer Mike James needs just one more save to break the UConn single season record for saves (James, teammate Bob Barton and Chris Hayes currently share the record with five). James, in only his second season with the Huskies, already owns the career saves record with seven.
Taking One For the Team: Brett Burnham is among UConn’s leaders in most offensive categories. However, he is by far the leader in one category–hit by pitch. Burnham has been hit 17 times in 24 games this season; as a team, UMass has only been hit 16 times.
