UConn baseball scores revenge on Georgetown in Game 1 of Big East tournament

UConn baseball got a small measure of revenge on Georgetown in its Big East tournament opener on Thursday, beating the Hoyas 4-0 and avoiding the loser’s bracket.

The Huskies received clutch hitting and a tremendous pitching performance from starter Austin Peterson, two areas of great improvement from last weekend’s series, where the Hoyas handed UConn their first sweep since March 2021.

Center fielder T.C. Simmons set the tone in the first inning that this would be a different game than last week. After Austin Peterson walked the first two baserunners, Simmons made a diving catch at the wall and doubled up the runner who did not think the ball would be caught.

Peterson took that boost in the first inning and returned the favor and then some: The UConn ace delivered seven scoreless innings, allowing just four walks and striking out eight.

UConn didn’t record a base knock until the fourth inning, when they finally broke through. Casey Dana reached on a single up the middle, Ben Huber walked and Korey Morton, recently named to the all-conference first team, lived up to the hype with a two-RBI single that put UConn up.

The Huskies added on insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings respectively, with RBI doubles from David Smith, who extended his hot streak to 21-for-38 over his past nine games, and Simmons.

Peterson gave the ball to Brendan O’Donnell and Devin Kirby, who combined to fire two perfect innings to close out the game.

UConn will face the winner of Creighton vs. Xavier, which was supposed to occur on Thursday but was called off due to heavy rain. UConn will wait until Saturday to play their winner’s bracket game, as Creighton vs. Xavier and the subsequent loser’s bracket game will occur on Friday.