University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Take One of Two From Boston College
4/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
STORRS, CT - (April 17) The University of Connecticut baseball team split a double header with Boston College on Thursday afternoon at J.O. Christian Field. UConn won game one 5-3, but dropped game two 5-4. The split moves the Huskies record to 18-15 on the season and 7-7 in the conference while Boston College goes to 18-14 overall and 5-5 in the BIG EAST.
In game one Boston College jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Leahy. UConn would answer in the bottom of the inning on a Tim Dempsey (Lexington, MA) single to score Mike Leonard (Vernon, CT) followed by a two run home run by Russ D’Argento (Marlboro, MA) that scored Mike Mocerino (Northboro, MA).
The Huskies would add a single run in the fourth on a Brett Burnham (South Windsor) RBI single. The Eagles would cut the gap to 4-3 in the top of the sixth on two unearned runs. Connecticut would add an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single by Peter Soteropoulos (Peabody, MA) for the 5-3 final.
The winning pitcher for UConn in game one was Nick Tucci (Medford, MA) pitching six innings allowing three runs, one earned, on nine hits. Mike James (Roswell, GA) picked up his eighth save pitching a perfect seventh inning. The loss for Boston College goes to Chris Lambert.
Game two was a pitchers dual as Tim Norton (Pascoag, RI) and Kevin Shepard were outstanding. The first runs came in the bottom of the fifth when UConn scored three unearned runs. The runs came on an RBI double by D’Argento which scored Mike McDonough (Abbington, MA), and a two run triple by Leonard to score Soteropoulos and D’Argento.
Boston College would come back scoring three runs in the eighth and two runs in the ninth to take a 5-3 lead. The Eagles scoring in the eighth came on a Josh DiScipio RBI single, a sacrifice fly by Drew Locke and a Jason Delaney RBI single. In the ninth Boston College scored on a two run single by Locke.
UConn would not go away putting together a late rally in the bottom of the ninth. Dempsey with one out would hit a double to start the rally. After the second out D’Argento singled to put runners on the corners for Burnham, who doubled to cut the lead to 5-4. Soteropoulos would be intentionally walked to load the bases, but Boston College closer Ryan Morgan was up to the challenge as he struck out Leonard to preserve a 5-4 win.
Shepard pitched 8.0 innings allowing three runs, zero earned on eight hits. Morgan pitched the ninth to pick up his eighth save of the season. Norton was impressive as well pitching 7.0 innings allowing two runs, both earned on four hits, while striking out a career high nine. The loss for the Huskies goes to Mike James.
UConn will continue it’s home stand on Saturday afternoon with a double header against BIG EAST rival Virginia Tech. First pitch at J.O. Christian Field is set for Noon.
