UConn baseball scores weekend sweep against Presbyterian

Game one

UConn’s offense came out ablaze on Saturday in a 20-1 victory. Seven Huskies had hits, and five had multi-hit efforts.

Designated hitter Erik Stock continued his blazing-hot start, going 3-4 with three singles and a walk, while prodigious freshman Reggie Crawford also put in a three-hit effort, but Kyler Fedko nearly put the Blue Hose away singlehandedly. He hit a long fly ball to right that got lost in the sun, driving in the Huskies’ first two runs of the night in the third inning, then smashed it even farther with a pair of two-run home runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

The Huskies scored eight in the first seven innings, then more than doubled their score with a ten-run eighth.

Nick Krauth, now acting as the ace of UConn’s pitching staff, paved the way for the Huskies’ victory with seven innings of nearly-perfect ball, allowing just one hit and three walks through seven innings, striking out six.

Game two

UConn’s offensive explosion carried over into the second game of the doubleheader, with a 7-1 win that clinched the series on Saturday afternoon.

Starter Joe Simeone seemed more comfortable following Krauth in the rotation and fired a six-inning gem, allowing just three hits and one unearned run in the first inning, more than doubling his career high with 12 strikeouts.

UConn got that one run back in the next frame, as redshirt freshman Kevin Ferrer had his first of three RBI on the night, driving in Chris Winkel from first base. Ferrer had the best game of his young UConn career so far, going 2-4, adding an RBI single in the 8th inning, pouring it on the hapless Blue Hose.

The Huskies wouldn’t look back from there, scoring two runs on sloppy fielding mistakes in the third inning, more errors in the fourth, and RBI singles from Crawford and Stock.

Stock showed no sign of slowing down from the DH spot, going 3-5 with a double and an RBI, joining Winkel, who also had a three-hit afternoon.

Game three

UConn completed the series sweep of Presbyterian on Sunday with a comeback 4-3 victory to close out the weekend on a strong note.

Down 3-1 in the ninth, the Huskies rallied for three-straight runs to send the Blue Hose packing. Crawford got the comeback started with a one-out single, then Kyler Fedko nearly tied the game up then and there with a towering shot to left field, but had to settle for a double as it stayed in the park. A few batters later, a RBI groundout from Winkel and a wild pitch brought in the game-tying and game-winning runs, respectively.

Starter Colby Dunlop gave up three runs (one earned) in the third inning, and it looked like his early-season struggles were set to continue for a fourth-straight week. But the sophomore settled down and fired two more innings of scoreless ball and gave the Huskies a chance to come back.

Kenny Haus and Caleb Wurster then combined for four scoreless innings out of the bullpen, with Wurster earning the win.

Who’s next?

UConn will play in their first midweek game and first game in the state of Connecticut on Tuesday on the road against Hartford at 3 p.m.