Baseball Pummels Holy Cross, 17-5

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BRADENTON, Fla. (March 7, 2005) - Three University of Connecticut baseball players registered three-hit games as the Huskies notched seven-run and six-run innings to thump Holy Cross by a score of 17-5 on Monday night in Bradenton, Fla. The win moves UConn to 4-3 on the season, while the Crusaders fall to 0-3.

With the game tied at 1-1 through the first three innings, the Husky bats came out in the top of the fourth as the team batted around and scored seven runs on seven hits. UConn led off the inning with three straight singles by Jeff Hourigan (Beacon Falls, Conn.), Dennis Donovan (Center Moriches, N.Y.) and Larry Day (Amesbury, Mass.). Freshman Vin DiFazio (Hampton, N.J.) then walked in a run, followed by classmate Pat Mahoney (Des Moines, Iowa) who singled to score Donovan.

Sophomore Josh Farkes (Boston, Mass.) doubled to score two more UConn runs, and Russ D'Argento (Marlboro, Mass.) hit a sac fly RBI to put the Huskies up 6-1. Junior Bryan Maler (Ansonia, Conn.) and Hourigan, in his second at-bat of the inning, both singled in a run to move the score to 8-1.

UConn entered the top of the eighth with its lead at 11-3, but scored six more runs to increase it to 17-3. In the inning, four Huskies reached with a base on balls and the the team took advantage of the free passes scoring all four on two well-timed hits and a sac fly. The key hit of the inning was a single by junior Austin Wasserman (Nashua, N.H.) that scored two runs.

The Crusaders scored added two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Huskies took the win at 17-5.

Sophomore Rich Sirois (Ipswich, Mass.) picked up the win for UConn, scattering eight hits over seven innings with three runs, one earned, and five strikeouts. Fellow sophomore Pat Maguire (Chelmsford, Mass.) finished the game striking out two with three hits and two runs.

Wasserman, Hourigan and Day each tallied three hits in the game, with Hourigan and Day both scoring two runs. Wasserman collected a team-high four RBI and Farkes ended the day 2-for-5 with three RBI and three runs.

Connecticut will continue its spring break schedule with a game against Sacred Heart on Tuesday, March 8 at 3:00 p.m.