Baseball Shuts Out Fairfield 12-0
Brad Olt Records First Homerun of the Season with a Two-Run Blast

Connecticut vs Fairfield (Apr 22, 2008)

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (April 22, 2008) — The University of Connecticut baseball team shut out Fairfield University 12-0 on Tuesday afternoon in non-conference action at Alumni Diamond.

UConn evens out to 21-21 overall this season with the win as the Huskies out-hit the Stags 14-2 on the afternoon.

The Huskies got on the board in the first as two walks by Fairfield starting pitcher Scott Gussaroff posted trouble early for the Stags. With two outs, freshman Mike Nemeth (Washington, N.J.) singled through the right side of the infield to score both Pat Mahoney (Des Moines, Iowa) and Mike Olt (Branford, Conn.) to go ahead 2-0.

Despite a lead-off walk and another with two outs, UConn starting pitcher Matt McDonald (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia) was able to get Jason Rago to fly out to end the inning.

Dale Brannon (St. Petersburg, Fla.) began the second inning with a lead-off single to right field before senior Brad Olt (Branford, Conn.) doubled down the right field line to score Brannon from second. Brannon took second on a failed pick off attempt by Gussaroff. Sophomore Harold Brantley, Jr. (Silver Spring, Md.) was hit by a pitch and put runners on second and first before freshman Elliot Glynn (Los Alamitos, Calif.) smacked a double off the centerfield fence to score two and put the Huskies up 5-0. Gordon Stevens (Vista, Calif.) singled through the left side of the infield to put runners on the corners with no outs as Mahoney earned his 23rd RBI of the season with a single to right center.

After a Mike Olt walk with no outs in the second, Fairfield head coach brought in Dan Belding to pitch for the Stags. Nemeth, Belding's first batter faced, grounded into a double play but was able to score Stevens from third. Belding through a wild pitch in his next throw as Mahoney scored the Huskies' eighth run of the game with ease. Brad Olt added his second hit in the second inning as the Huskies batted around. Olt's single through the left side of the field scored Peter Fatse (Hampden, Mass.) to put the Huskies up 9-0 after 1.5 innings.

McDonald got in some trouble in the bottom of the third as the Stags put runners on the corners with one out. But a strike out looking followed by ground out to second by the Stags got McDonald out of trouble with no runs scored.

Nemeth connected for a double off the wall in right center to start the fourth inning with one out on the board. Fatse followed with ground out to first to move Nemeth to second before Nemeth recorded UConn's 10th run of the game on a wild pitch by Belding. Brad Olt recorded his first homerun of the season as he blasted one over the wall in left center to put the Huskies up 12-0.

Dusty Odenbach (Rochester, N.Y.) took the mound for the Huskies in the fourth after McDonald went three innings, allowing one hit, no runs and five walks while striking out three. Despite two men getting on base by UConn fielding errors, Odenbach was able to get two of the three outs on strikeouts to hold the Stags with no runs after four innings played.

Belding left the game after four innings thrown after allowing three hits and four runs. Dan Gallagher took the mound in the sixth inning for the Stags. In the bottom of the sixth, head coach Jim Penders put Trent DeLazzer (Cypress, Calif.) on the mound for the Huskies as he was able to get three quick outs after allowing one hit. DeLazzer retired the side in the seventh as he struck out Stags' Allen to end the inning.

Junior Erik Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) came in to pitch for the Huskies as he retired the side in a quick bottom of the eighth. Dennis Accomando (Monroe, Conn.) came into the game in the bottom of the ninth to pitch and close out the game for the Huskies.

McDonald earned the win for his third of the season while Fairfield's Gussaroff took the loss after one inning pitched along with eight earned runs, three walks and six hits.

Brad Olt finished the afternoon with a 3-for-3 performance, including a two-run homerun in the top of the fourth inning. He added four RBIs and two runs to the UConn tally. Mahoney as well as Fatse and Brannon added two hits a piece for the UConn line-up, while Nemeth recorded two RBIs on the afternoon.

UConn will return to action on Wednesday, April 23 as the Huskies travel to the University of Rhode Island for a 3:30 p.m. game.

-UCONN-