University of Connecticut Athletics
Baseball Shutout By West Virginia, 14-0
5/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Mountaineers improve to 27-20 overall and 8-14 in BIG EAST play with the win while the Huskies dip to 25-24 overall and 7-13 in league play. It is UConn’s worst loss since an 18-0 whitewashing at Pittsburgh on April 15, 2000.
Brad Olt went 3-for-3 to lead UConn at the plate, accounting for all but two of the team’s hits on the day. Four Mountaineers had multiple-hit days led by Tyler Kuhn who was 4-for-5 with five RBI and Trent Ridgley who went 3-for-6 with three RBI.
The Mountaineers broke through early in the third inning to post their first runs of the series after being shutout, 5-0, on Friday. Adam White led off the frame with a bloop single into left center. Kuhn followed by sending the second pitch he faced hurdling deep over the wall in right field for a two-run home run. Two batters later, Austin Markel ripped the first pitch he saw over the fence in right center field to put WVU up 3-0.
WVU extended its lead in the top of the fourth. Jason Pape walked on four pitches to lead off the frame, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and came across to score a batter later as Brent Lockhart ripped a double down the left field line. Lockhart was brought plateward by a solid single to center by Kuhn, making it a 5-0 game. The Mountaineers continued on with their rally and loaded the bases with two outs. UConn brought Ted Garry out of the bullpen at that point and designated hitter Ridgley greeted him by dropping a well-placed bunt down the third base line. Ridgley beat out the bunt and first baseman Matt Untiet dropped the throw, enabling a second Mountaineer to score, making it a 7-0 game. Garry then got Jordon Yost swinging to avert further damage.
Meanwhile, Yurich cruised through the first five innings on the mound for the Mountaineers, fanning five and allowing no walks and just a ground single up the middle by Olt with one out in the third inning.
WVU threatened to score in the top of the sixth but some good Husky defense cut down a would-be Mountaineer run. WVU had runners on second and third with one out when Ridgley sent a grounder to Dale Brannon at second. Kuhn broke for home but Brannon threw a strike to catcher Larry Day who deftly blocked the plate and tagged Kuhn out. Garry got Yost to fly out to left and end the threat.
UConn staged its first significant rally in the home half of the sixth when Olt led off the frame with a solid single to left for UConn's second hit of the day, both off of his bat. Harold Brantley, Jr. beat out a nubber to second base for an infield single and the Huskies quickly had two on with no outs. But, Yurich fanned Peter Fatse and induced groundouts from both Brannon and Day to escape unsaved.
West Virginia cobbled together a pair of runs quickly in the seventh. With the bases loaded after a walk, hit by pitch and bunt single, White chopped a single back up the middle to plate a pair of runs. Before the frame concluded, one more Mountaineer would cross on a fielder's choice and another on a lined single to right by Ridgley, making it 11-0 in favor of WVU. In the top of the eighth, Kuhn's fourth hit of the day was an RBI single to center that bring home a pair of his fellow Mountaineers, making the count 13-0 in favor of the men from Morgantown. A solo homer narrowly over the right field fence by Ridgley in the ninth inning accounted for the 14-0 final.
Yurich went the distance on the mound for WVU, the second straight day that the Mountaineer pitching staff has come through with a complete game. Yurich scattered five singles and struck out seven without walking a batter. Dusty Odenbach started for UConn and took the loss after yielding seven runs, six earned, over 3.2 innings of work with three strikeouts and four costly walks. Ted Garry threw 2.1 shutout innings for UConn with a pair of strikeouts before Will Musson, Dennis Accomando and Doug Jennings came on to throw the seventh, eighth and ninth innings respectively.
The Huskies and Mountaineers will wrap up their three game series on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. in Storrs. That time has been changed from the scheduled noon start to help WVU catch an early flight back to Morgantown. The rubber game of this three-game set will likely prove critical as the Huskies and Mountaineers are among several teams vying for one of the final berths in the BIG EAST Championship, May 23-27 at Keyspan Park on Coney Island.
