University of Connecticut Athletics
Baseball Drops 11-3 Decision To Western Michigan
3/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (March 8, 2007) — Western Michigan starting pitcher Dan Coberley struck out nine batters and allowed one run on four hits in six innings of work as the Broncos defeated the University of Connecticut baseball team, 11-3, Thursday afternoon at the University of North Florida’s Harmon Stadium.
Making his first start of the season, Husky sophomore John Folino (0-1) (Quincy, Mass.) took the loss after surrendering two runs on three hits while striking out two in three innings on the hill. Freshman Stephen Blumetti (Union, N.J.), sophomores David Bodge (Taunton, Mass.) and Dennis Accomando (Monroe, Conn.) and freshman Jason Kitchen (Burtonsville, Md.) all saw innings in relief of Folino.
Western Michigan (2-5) plated the first two runs of the game as the Broncos mounted a two-out rally in the top of the second inning. Right fielder Pedro Dager started the rally with a single through the left side before stealing second base. First baseman Brett Newsome then walked to put runners on first and second before Joe McDonald drove home Dager with a single to center field. Two batters later, second baseman Brent Gerlach singled on the infield to plate Newsome with the second run of the inning.
The Broncos added three more runs in the top of the third inning to extend their lead to 5-0. Dager delivered a two-run single into left field before Zach Gentile was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing home Dager who had advanced to third on an error and a single on the infield.
UConn (2-7) plated its first run of the afternoon as the Huskies capitalized on a Western Michigan error on the infield. Junior catcher Brad Olt (Branford, Conn.) opened the inning with a double into left field before moving to third on Josh Farkes’ (Boston, Mass.) groundout to the right side. Olt scored on the following play as Gentile committed an error on Gordon Stevens’ (Vista, Calif.) grounder to short.
Western Michigan struck for four more runs over the fifth and sixth innings. McDonald drove home the only run of the fifth with a sacrifice fly, while Matt Abro connected for a three-run double in the sixth to put the Broncos ahead 9-1.
The Huskies scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh, making the score 9-3 with two innings left to play. Freshman Peter Fatse (Hampden, Mass.) drew a walk to start the inning before Olt was hit by a pitch to put the first two runners on. After tagging and moving to third on a Matt Burnett (Endicott, N.Y.) fly out, Fatse came around to score in the following at bat when Stevens hit a sac fly to center field. Senior Matt Untiet (Berlin, Conn.) later added an RBI single, scoring Olt with his team-leading seventh RBI of the season.
UConn returns to action Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. when the Huskies take on Jacksonville University.
Western Michigan 11, Connecticut 3 (Mar 08, 2007 at Jacksonville, Fla.)
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Western Michigan.... 023 013 002 - 11 9 1 (2-5)
Connecticut......... 001 000 200 - 3 6 2 (3-6)
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Pitchers: Western Michigan - Coberley; Marrone(7); Mahan(8); Schlecker(9). Connecticut -
FOLINO, John; BLUMETTI, Stephen(3); BODGE, David(4); ACCOMANDO, Dennis(6); KITCHEN, Jason(9).
Win-Coberley(1-0) Loss-FOLINO, John(0-1) T-2:49 A-175
Game: CONN0308
-UCONN-
