University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
University of Louisville
BSB Beats No. 4 Louisville, 3-2, on Opening Night
2/15/2019 11:44:00 PM | Baseball
LAKELAND, Fla. – The UConn baseball team knocked off No. 4 Louisville 3-2 on Friday night at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Redshirt sophomore Paul Gozzo hit a go-ahead, solo home run in the eighth inning to give UConn a 3-2 advantage. The long ball came in Gozzo's first career at bat as a Husky. Gozzo came into the game after Pat Winkel injured his hamstring beating out an infield single to first.
Before exiting, Winkel collected a pair of hits in his first collegiate game and threw out two base runners.
Jacob Wallace came out of the bullpen for the Huskies and fired two scoreless frames to lock down his first save of the season. Wallace entered the game in the eighth inning and made a diving catch on a popped up bunt to the first hitter he faced. The Methuen, Mass native racked up three strikeouts and did not allow a hit while securing the final six outs.
Starting pitcher Jeff Kersten was superb in his first start of the year, logging six innings of work, allowing one unearned run and scattering five hits. The Pinole, Calif. native buckled down in the third inning after an error and single placed runners at second and third with no outs. The right-hander limited the damage to just one run to keep the deficit, 1-0.
UConn tied the game in the fifth on an Anthony Prato RBI single. Prato drove in Anthony Nucerino, who singled to lead off the inning and moved into scoring position on a Mike Woodworth sacrifice bunt.
The Huskies captured their first lead of the season in the sixth on a Conor Moriarty sacrifice fly. The UConn third baseman crushed the pitch to the spacious left centerfield gap but Louisville centerfield Drew Campbell made a home-run saving grab to take away a potential three-run homer.
Despite not playing on a diamond since fall ball, the Huskies had an excellent day defensively. Prato, Moriarty, Gozzo along with Pat Winkel and Wallace all made significant plays defensively to secure the first win of the season.
The win was the first over a top-five ranked opponent since beating No. 1 Notre Dame on May 6, 2001, 19-12.
Notes
- Tonight was the first regular season game against a top-five ranked team since Jim Penders took over in 2004. The Huskies played three games against top-five competition in the NCAA Tournament (No. 4 South Carolina (2011) and No. 1 Florida (2016))
- Pat Winkel collected his first career multi-hit game in his first collegiate game.
- Paul Gozzo hit his first career home run at UConn in his first career at-bat with the Huskies.
- UConn has won its season opener in two of the last three seasons.
