UConn Baseball Routed by Cincinnati in AAC Tournament Final

For the second-straight season, UConn baseball came up short in the AAC Tournament Championship Game, falling 22-5 to the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Starter Jeff Kersten struggled, allowing 10 hits and six runs in just 2.2 innings of work. The Huskies gave up five runs in the third inning followed up by three runs in the fourth inning, a hole they could not dig themselves out of.

The game turned into a full-on rout in the seventh inning when Cincinnati scored nine runs to extend its lead to 19-4. The Bearcats tacked on three more in the top of the ninth while UConn got one back in the bottom of the inning for the final score of 22-5.

It was the most runs ever given up in the Jim Penders Era.

Even with the deficit, the Huskies had their chances to get back into the game. In both the third and fourth innings, UConn left a pair of runners on base. In the fifth inning, the Huskies loaded the bases but only scraped one run across. As a team, UConn went just 3-of-16 with runners in scoring position with 15 batters left on base.

Despite losing out on the AAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Huskies are expected to secure an at-large bid when the 64-team is revealed on Selection Monday at noon.