Baseball Falls to Cincinnati, 6-4, in Series Finale

BOX SCORE (.HTML)

STORRS, Conn. (April 6, 2008) — Freshman Mike Nemeth (Washington, N.J.) drove in three runs but it was not enough for the University of Connecticut baseball team to avoid a sweep at the hands of Cincinnati as the Bearcats picked up a 6-4 win on Sunday afternoon at J.O. Christian Field in Storrs.

The Huskies level their season record with the loss at 15-15 with a 5-7 mark in BIG EAST play while the Bearcats up their mark to 15-11 overall and 7-2 on their conference docket. The Huskies had not lost all three games of a BIG EAST series at J.O. Christian Field since losing three straight to Notre Dame in 2004.

The Huskies started the game off right by scoring a pair of runs in their first at bat. UConn loaded the bases when Pierre LePage (Wolcott, Conn.) reached on an error, Pat Mahoney (Des Moines, Iowa) blooped a double down the left field line and Peter Fatse (Hampden, Mass.) walked. Nemeth plated the first run on a fielder's choice deep up the middle to short as Fatse's hustle beat a throw to second base. With the sacks still full of Huskies, Doug Elliot (Rocky Hill, Conn.) followed with an infield single which allowed Mahoney to cross the plate.

Cincinnati got those runs back in its next at bat as Cameron Satterwhite singled and Mike Spina crushed a line drive home run deep over the left field fence. The Bearcats scored three more runs in the top of the third to take a 5-2 edge. All three runs in the third were unearned as the Husky defense committed two of its five errors on the day in the frame. Chris Peters opened the inning with a single to center but was given a free pass to third after a wild pickoff attempt. After Tony Campana's at bat was extended by a dropped foul ball in left field, he delivered an RBI single to score Peters. Campana would eventually score on a sacrifice fly by Satterwhite and Cincinnati would get another run in the inning on an RBI single by Spina. The Bearcats added an insurance run in the seventh inning to make it a 6-2 game.

UConn came alive in the home half of the ninth. The Huskies loaded the bases with two outs after singles by Gordon Stevens (Vista, Calif.) and Mahoney while Fatse was hit by a pitch. Nemeth plated both Stevens and Mahoney with a two RBI single deep into the hole at short. Now up just 6-4, Bearcat skipper Brian Cleary went to the bullpen to summon closer Billy Welsh who struck out Elliot, ending the game.

Elliot Glynn (Los Altamitos, Calif.) started for UConn and took the loss, allowing five runs, two earned, over 2.2 innings of work. Erik Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) threw 3.1 shutout innings in relief of Glynn, allowing two hits and no walks with a pair of strikeouts to his credit. David Erickson (Stratford, Conn.) threw the final three innings and yielded a run on two hits with four strikeouts and no walks. Tyler Smith picked up his third win of the year for Cincinnati, allowing two unearned runs in his 5.2 innings of work with seven strikeouts. Welsh got his third save of the year.

UConn returns to action on Tuesday when the Huskies travel to face Massachusetts at 3:00 p.m. in Amherst. UConn beat UMass, 4-2, on March 24 in Storrs.