HookC Beats Wake Forest, 8-7, in College Park Regional Opener

Friday, June 3

College Park, MD

1:00 PM

University of Connecticut

47-13

Wake Forest University

40-18-1

Connecticut

Wake Forest

HookC Beats Wake Forest, 8-7, in College Park Regional Opener

6/3/2022 7:14:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The UConn baseball team (47-13) defeated Wake Forest (40-18-1), 8-7, to advance to the winner's bracket in the College Park Regional.

Ben Huber delivered a bloop RBI double to push the Huskies ahead 8-7 in the top of the ninth. UConn closer Justin Willis retired the side in order to earn the victory out of the bullpen.

UConn jumped out to a 7-2 advantage entering the bottom of the seventh with Bryan Padilla (fifth inning) and Casey Dana (7th inning) hitting two-run homers.

The Huskies plated four in the fifth to take its first lead of the day. After the Padilla homer, Stock scored on a wild pitch and Dana was plated on a Huber RBI single.

Austin Peterson was superb on the mound for the Huskies. The Chesterton, Ind. native fired 6.0 innings, allowed just three hits, two runs and struck out 11 against a dangerous Demon Deacons' lineup.

With his 11 strikeouts, Peterson broke the UConn single-season record with 140 punch outs on the year, passing Collin McLaughlin (1979, 138).

After the Demon Deacons rallied to tie the game with four runs in the eighth, UConn responded with a tally in the ninth to secure its 47th win of the year.

UConn will face the winner of Maryland/LIU on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the winner's bracket game.

Game Notes

Austin Peterson recorded his seventh double-digit strikeout game of the season, with all of them coming against non-conference opponents.
The Huskies are one win away from tying the program record for wins (2010, 48).
The win is the 14th victory in the NCAA Tournament since 2010.
UConn is 14-2 in Austin Peterson starts this season.
The UConn pitching staff has set a new single-season record with 586 strikeouts this year.