UConn baseball beats Cal Poly, loses to Cal

UConn baseball continued its volatile start to the season this weekend in Berkeley, with a wild 11-10 comeback win against Cal Poly on Friday night followed by a 4-2 loss to Cal. The scheduled Sunday game against Cal was called due to weather after two-and-a-half innings with the score tied 0-0.

The Huskies sit 3-3 on the season and are looking to find some consistency as 2023 rolls on.

UConn 11, Cal Poly 10 (10 innings)

The weekend started with a roller coaster of a game.

UConn rallied from three runs down in the ninth inning to win in extra innings, 11-10, over Cal Poly in a back-and-forth battle that featured 26 combined hits.

The Huskies trailed by three or more through most of the evening, but a big ninth inning gave UConn the lifeline it needed. Trailing 10-7, T.C. Simmons led off the inning with a solo home run. Luke Broadhurst followed it up with an RBI double and David Smith capped the comeback with an RBI ground out.

Devin Kirby was able to give his team length through the end of the game. His outing spanned 2 2/3 innings, including four strikeouts and the win.

The Huskies kept it going in the 10th inning, as Ben Huber and Simmons drew back-to-back walks with one down. Huber advanced to third and then home on two wild pitches, giving the Huskies the edge they needed to take game one of the weekend.

Each time the Huskies trailed, they kept the lead from getting too out of hand. Eight different players had hits, and the top of the lineup got it done again: Smith, Korey Morton, and Dominic Freeberger combined to go 8-for-17 with two home runs and six RBI.

Broadhurst had solid day at the plate for the Huskies, going 3-for-4 with two home runs and a double.

Cal 4, UConn 2

After an emotional series opener, the Huskies’ bats fell flat against their weekend hosts, falling 4-2 to Cal.

The Golden Bears were up 4-0 after five innings when the Huskies threatened to mount another comeback, getting two runs back and had men on first and third, but two runs away was as close as they would get in the loss.

The Huskies held on to a tight 0-0 game until the fourth inning, where two Cal hits off starter Jack Sullivan turned into two runs after a leadoff walk. In the next frame, Cal made it 4-0 with a single from star catcher Caleb Lomativa and a two-run home run from Rodney Green Jr.

UConn scored via a Freeberger single to make it 4-1 and a two-out RBI double from Huber to make it 4-2, and would bring the tying run to the plate in the next three innings consecutively, but was unable to get the job done.

UConn was robbed of getting their revenge on the Golden Bears when the getaway game on Sunday was rained out in the middle of the third.

With one wild comeback against Cal Poly that didn’t necessarily instill confidence in the pitching staff and another against Cal that was close to the opposite, the Huskies will look to gain more consistency next weekend in a three-game set against Florida International before playing at home for the first time on March 7 against Hartford.