University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies End Season With 5-2 Victory Over Pittsburgh
5/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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PITTSBURGH (May 19) – After being eliminated from BIG EAST Tournament contention on Saturday, the University of Connecticut baseball team put an end to Pittsburgh's hopes by avoiding a sweep with a 5-2 victory on Sunday over the Panthers at Trees Field. With the win, UConn finished the season with a 28-22 overall record and a 13-12 BIG EAST mark, while Pittsburgh went to 36-16-1 overall and 14-11 in the conference.
UConn got out to a 3-0 lead when Mike Leonard (So., Vernon, CT) and Dan Trubia (Jr., Tolland, CT) hit back-to-back doubles in the second inning and Brian Maloney (Fr.,
Hampton, NH) singled through the right side to plate Trubia. In the third, Cy Hess (Sr., Oakdale, CT) made it home when Peter Soteropoulos (Jr., Peabody, MA) grounded into a double play.
Pittsburgh came up with one run in the fourth before Jon Gorrie (Sr.,Northboro, MA) scored on a double steal in the sixth to make it 4-1. In the bottom half of the inning, Pittsburgh's Brant Colamarino made it 4-2 with a solo home run. The Huskies added one more in the top of the eighth when Brett Burnham (Jr., South Windsor, CT) doubled down the left field line to score Tony Mallozzi (Fr.,Westboro, MA).
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Pittsburgh's Stuart Rykaceski came to the plate representing the tying run. However, he flew out to center to end the game.
Leonard, Trubia and Maloney each had three hits to lead the Huskies.
Patrick Sperone (Sr., Sicklerville, NJ) picked up the win for Connecticut as he twirled a complete game to improve to 6-5 as he struck out eight batters and allowed only seven hits. For Pittsburgh, Eric Ackerman dropped to 7-2 by allowing 11 of UConn's 15 hits and three runs.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E UConn 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 5 15 0 Pitt 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 7 2Win: Sperone (6-5)
Loss: Ackerman (7-2)
Save: None
E: Bello, Zambriczki
DP: Connecticut 2; Pittsburgh 3.
LOB: Connecticut 12; Pittsburgh 4.
