UConn Baseball Weekend Recap: FAU Series
After a winless opening weekend in Puerto Rico, the Huskies headed to Boca Raton looking to put that first weekend behind them. A mercurial performance in Boca earned the Huskies two losses, finally getting in the win column on Sunday. Pitching, an issue in Puerto Rico, was a problem once again, allowing 25 runs in Saturday’s contest, the most since allowing 19 to Columbia in 2023. The pitching the Huskies were hoping to see showed up in the finale on Sunday, giving the Huskies a little bit of confidence heading into next weekend, where they head to Los Angeles to take on USC, UCLA, and Vanderbilt.
Game One: FAU (5-4)
FAU starter: Trey Beard (1-0 4.50 ERA, 4.0 innings)
UConn starter: Gabe Van Emon (0-0 16.88 ERA 2.2 innings)
After going hitless in the first two innings, Tyler Minnick got things going for the Huskies in the third, with a three HR to open the scoring at 3-0. They looked to add on in the fourth, juicing the bases with one out, but Bryan Padilla lined out to the pitcher, and Caleb Shpur struck out, and the Huskies ended the frame scoreless. FAU got on the board for the first time in the fifth, on a Jake Duer RBI single to center, cutting the lead to 3-1. Duer landed on third after a John Schroeder two out double, then scored on a Jake Millian three run homer on a 1-2 count, to give the Owls the lead at 4-3. Oliver Pudvar got a K to end the inning, but the damage was done.
The Huskies had two runners in scoring position with two outs in the sixth, but Padilla grounded out ending the threat, and extending his struggles to start this season, batting just .176 through the first four games. Big Grant MacArthur would tie the game in the eighth on a solo shot to RF, the first of the year for the JuCo transfer. The tie would be short-lived, however, as Patrick Ward drove in a run with two outs, giving the Owls a one run lead again, and this time, would not relinquish.
UConn starter Van Emon got into trouble in each of his first two innings of work, and got out of the jam each time, but threw 52 pitches. He was pulled in the third in favor of Pudvar, who went 3.2 innings, giving up five hits, four earned runs, walking one and striking out four. Cayden Suchy took the loss for the Huskies after allowing the Ward RBI.
Beard pitched five innings, before being pulled for Braden Ostrander in the sixth, who would go just 0.1 innings putting the first two runners on base before getting a strikeout. Beard allowed three earned runs on three hits, walking four but striking out ten Huskies. MJ Bollinger came on in the ninth to close the door on this one, his first save of the year.
Game Two: FAU (25-17)
FAU starter: Tyler Murphy (1-0 1.80 ERA 5.0 innings)
UConn starter: Ian Cooke (0-1 8.31 ERA 4.1 innings)
In a final scoring more fitting of a football game (UConn did beat FAU this season 48-14, I should point out), FAU jumped out to a 15-1 lead, on the strength of four HRs through the first two innings. Bryan Padilla hit a solo shot in the top of the third to get UConn on the board, but things started to get a little interesting in the fifth. After finally holding the Owls to no runs in the bottom of the fourth, Tyler Minnick hit a grand slam to cut the lead to 17-6, then a couple more homers in the sixth helped get the lead down to four at 19-15.
However, the bats would cool down for the rest of the game, while FAU pulled away with three in the seventh. FAU used seven pitchers in this contest, while the Huskies went through six. Starter Ian Cooke struggled mightily, getting through one full inning, allowing eight hits, nine runs, six of them earned. His replacement, Kyle Peters, didn’t record a single out, allowing six earned runs on three hits, two walks and a hit by pitch. Sam Hutchinson came on to settle things down a bit, giving up four runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings of action. Cooke took the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season, and his ERA ballooned to 16.88. Peters’ ERA ended the weekend at 99.00.
For the Owls, Max Martzlof earned the win. Murphy went 4.2 innings, allowing eight runs, all earned, on eight hits, striking out four Huskies. Martzlof was the only FAU pitcher to not allow a run, working a perfect sixth inning.
Game Three: UConn (5-3)
FAU starter: james Litman (1-0 0.00 ERA 3.2 innings)
UConn starter: Tommy Ellisen (0-1 4.50 ERA 2.0 innings)
The Huskies had a solid bounceback afternoon, allowing just seven hits on the afternoon, a welcome change of pace. The game was scoreless through four, with the Owls getting on the board first in the fifth, on a Duer SAC fly. The Huskies had a big threat in the seventh, loading the bases with no outs, but Padilla grounded into a double play, although it did result in the tying run. Matt Garbowski grounded out to end the inning and the threat. The Owls responded in their half of the seventh, with Lipsey homering to right off Hamberger, giving them a 3-1 lead. Hamberger, who was tagged for three runs in 0.2 innings on Saturday, saw his weekend end with an ERA of 48.60.
Minnick came up in the clutch, tying the game with a two-run homer, and this game headed to extras, where Daniels hit a two-run shot of his own, and Brady Afthim closed the door on the first win of the season. Ellisen had the best outing of any starting pitcher so far, going four innings, allowing one earned run on four hits, striking out five. However, it took 81 pitches to get that stat line. Afthim got the win, pitching three innings of hitless ball, striking out four.
For FAU, Litman had a similar line as Ellisen, pitching 4.2 innings, allowing four hits but no runs, striking out two. Bollinger took the loss after a successful outing on Friday night, this time alllowing three runs on six hits in 2.1 innings.
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