No. 21 UConn baseball dispatches Marist in midweek matchup

No. 21 UConn baseball enjoyed a comfortable 15-4 win in their midweek matchup against Marist to move the team to 25-7 on the season.

Marist scored the first two runs in the game, but that was just about the extent of the joy that the Red Foxes got to see on Tuesday night. The Huskies scored 11 unanswered in the next five innings and outscored their opponents 4-2 in the late innings, pinging hits to every area of Dunkin Donuts Park in the program’s first game in Hartford’s flagship baseball stadium since a doubleheader against Wichita State in May 2019.

UConn baseball scored in every inning from the second to the fourth, and delivered the one-two brutal knockout with five runs in the sixth and four runs in the seventh. Eight of nine Huskies recorded a hit and four of them had three-hit games. One such Husky was Casey Dana, who had a 3-for-4 night with a triple and a towering homer to right field, one double away from the cycle.

Korey Morton continued his hot hitting with a 3-for-5 night, Ben Huber went 3-for-4 and Zach Bushling had a 3-for-4 performance with a double in the drubbing.

UConn went down 2-0 early after starter Ian Cooke nearly escaped a jam with runners on second on third, but a ball hit deep to center field was just out of T.C. Simmons’ reach and both runners came across to score.

UConn was quick to respond in the second, with an RBI single from David Smith and an infield single from Bryan Padilla tied it up at two. UConn took the lead on a fielder’s choice in the third inning, but kicked it up a notch in the fourth with Dana’s burrito-earning home run.

The Huskies would break it open in the sixth with back-to-back RBI singles from Ben Huber and Matt Donlan, then another three-run home run, this time from Smith, who went 2-for-4 with five RBIs on the night, a season-high. Donlan followed that up with a home run in the seventh inning to extend the home run derby.

Six pitchers saw the game for the Huskies in a true bullpen game, with Justin Willis on to close it out, striking out the side in the ninth inning.

UConn returns to action on Thursday on the road against Seton Hall to open a three-game conference series. As it is Easter weekend, the set will conclude with a doubleheader on Saturday.