No. 15 UConn baseball splits doubleheader to win series against Georgetown

No. 15 UConn baseball has now won eight consecutive weekends, as it split a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon to take a home series victory over Georgetown.

The Huskies won the opener 6-3, but dropped the series finale 6-2 in what ended up a mixed bag of a day in Storrs.

Game 1

The Huskies and Hoyas were tied at three apiece after six frames of the early game when the Storrs side scored three runs between the seventh and eighth to earn the 6-3 victory.

After that, it was all up to UConn closer Justin Willis, who earned the school-record 23rd save of his UConn career, closing out the win with a 1-3 groundout.

Georgetown struck first, knocking around starting pitcher Stephen Quigley in the third inning with an RBI triple and an RBI double to put the Huskies in a 2-0 hole.

UConn struck back in its next two at-bats. Right fielder Jake Studley scored Korey Morton with a single that was too hot for the third baseman to handle in the third. David Smith hit a triple to the wall in left field to plate Morton again in the fourth, and second baseman Ryan Daniels drove him home with an RBI single that gave the Huskies a 3-2 lead.

After Georgetown tied it up in the top of the seventh, UConn responded with a solo home run from Luke Broadhurst and smart baserunning from pinch runner Drew Kron and David Smith to score a pair in the eighth, putting UConn up 6-3.

The UConn pitching staff held the Hoyas in check for much of the game and did especially well at limiting free passes, allowing just a pair of walks in the contest. Quigley started the game and allowed two runs on five hits, striking out four in 5 ²⁄₃ innings. Zach Fogell would earn the win, throwing 1 ¹⁄₃ shutout innings with two strikeouts.

Game 2

After scoring a flurry of late runs to clinch the series in the opener, UConn’s offense failed to find consistent hits in the second game of the doubleheader and the Huskies eventually fell, 6-2.

UConn started off the game by scoring in the first frame as Ryan Daniels advanced to second on a bunt single and an error, but failed to get good at-bats in clutch moments during the rest of the game, stranding nine baserunners on the day, five of which were in scoring position.

The Huskies’ second run of the game didn’t come until the seventh inning. Bryan Padilla reached base via walk, advanced to third on a David Smith single and scored on a sacrifice fly that would eventually turn into a run-down double play, ending the inning.

Georgetown jumped on Ian Cooke early, taking advantage of the player who started his first game in two weeks after missing the Xavier series due to injury. The Hoyas scored three runs in the second inning and another in the fourth before the sophomore was pulled from the game. Jack Sullivan entered in relief of Cooke and allowed one more run in the inning, but would settle down, throwing 2 ¹⁄₃ steady innings.

UConn (29-11, 6-3 Big East) will be back in action on Tuesday, taking on Yale at 6:05 p.m. in Storrs. The Huskies’ other midweek game this week, scheduled for Wednesday against Brown, has been canceled. The Bears’ series finale against Harvard on Sunday was rained out and the Ivy League permits teams to cancel midweek games to make up conference games.