University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Rhode Island
Huskies Take 4-1 Decision at URI
5/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2011
KINGSTON, R.I. - The No. 15 UConn baseball team defeated Rhode Island 4-1 on Monday afternoon at Bill Beck Field in Kingston, R.I. Doug Elliot led the charge with a 2-for-4 performance en route to UConn's seventh straight win against non-conference opponents in 2011.
UConn scored four runs on nine hits as the Huskies improved to 37-14-1 on the year with the win. Rhode Island falls to 29-18 with the out-of-conference loss.
In the bottom of the second inning, Tom Verdi halted URI's first scoring opportunity as he made a diving play on a ball and fired it over to first to get the Rams' Dan Haverstick to end the inning. With runners on second and third with two outs in the third inning, Verdi made another diving play to get Kyle Borden at first to keep URI scoreless.
UConn scored its first run of the contest in the fourth inning as George Springer picked up his 25th walk of the season before moving to third on a Ryan Fuller single to center field. Doug Elliot registered his 24th RBI of the year with a base hit through the right side of the infield to score Springer, giving UConn an early lead. Springer crossed the plate for the 50th time this season, a team-best tally.
Verdi also contributed at the plate as he led off the fifth inning with a double down the left field line. A Billy Ferriter walk, a sacrifice bunt by LJ Mazzilli and a walk by John Andreoli loaded the bases for the Springer, who battled to a five-pitch walk to pick up his 70th RBI of the season to give UConn a 2-0 lead. Mike Nemeth followed with a sacrifice fly out to left field to score Ferriter from third, extending UConn's lead to three.
Mazzilli singled in a run in the sixth as UConn scored in the third consecutive inning, extending its lead to 4-0.
Bob Van Woert gave up six hits and struck out four in his sixth appearance of the season. He went 5.2 innings before Will Jolin came out of the bullpen to record the final out of the frame with the bases loaded in the sixth. Van Woert improved to 4-0 on the year with the victory. Jolin threw 2.1 innings and struck three in his 18th appearance of the season. He gave up the lone run to URI's Mike LeBel, who homered over the left field wall in the bottom of the eighth.
Kevin Vance closed out the game in the ninth as he allowed a lead-off hit before striking out two and forcing a fly out to right to end the game. It was the 11th save of the season for the junior as well. Mazzilli finished the day with two hits, including his 20th double of the season.
Rhode Island's Kevin Graveline took the loss in today's ballgame to fall to 6-4 on the year for the Rams.
UConn returns to action on Tuesday, May 17 when the Huskies travel to Boston, Mass. to take on Northeastern in non-conference play. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.
