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The Huskies evened up their record on the week with the doubleheader sweep. | Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog
Some say revenge is a dish best served cold. For UConn baseball on Sunday, it was the bats that were hot as the Huskies grabbed two big wins over teams that beat them earlier.
After losing to San Jose State (10-13) and San Diego State (12-13) on consecutive days, the Huskies (12-13) turned their weekend around by sweeping a doubleheader, picking up a win against both programs.
The Huskies started the day with a 7-5 triumph over the Aztecs before shutting out the Spartans, 8-0, to end their West Coast trip.
Game one started with a bang, as the Aztecs and Huskies began the day by trading home runs. Jake Jackson got SDSU on the board in the second before Tyler Minick and Cam Righi went back-to-back an inning later. Minick’s shot came after Evan Menzel reached via a lead-off single to make it 3-1 after three.
The Huskies would hang on to the lead the rest of the way, but they had to work hard to hold on to it.
Adam Magpoc and Anthony Marnell IV each picked up an Aztec RBI in the fourth and sixth, respectively, but that sandwiched a two-run single for Huskies DH Steve Thomas that kept his team in front.
With the score 5-4 going into the sixth and the Huskies still yet to pull away, Minick did it again.
Another two-run home run gave the Huskies a three-run lead, the widest margin of the contest. Since returning from injury against Boston College two weeks ago, the Preseason All-Big East Team member has been on a tear. The outfielder has five home runs in ten games over that time.
The Aztecs got one back in the seventh on Magpoc’s second RBI of the day, but Charlie Hale came in to close it for the Huskies, earning his first save with the program.
After the narrow win in game one against the Aztecs, the Huskies needed just one half-inning to take down the Spartans.
That half inning, the sixth to be exact, was the only one in which either team scored the entire ballgame.
Following a pair of singles to start the inning, a Righi hit by pitch loaded the bases for Minick. Per usual, the junior came through, sending a single through the right side and advancing to second on a throwing error from right fielder Alex Fernandes. Two runs scored, finally breaking the scoreless draw after five innings.
The damage kept coming, as did the poor defense from the Spartans. After Chris Polemeni was also plunked to reload the bases, Menzel sent a ball towards short that was destined to be the second out of the inning. Instead, the roller was too much for shortstop Rocco Caballero to handle, allowing Menzel to reach and another run to score.
The bases still juiced, a Nater Wachter walk kept the merry-go-round moving.
The loudest runs of the inning came when Maddix Dalena, who hadn’t recorded a hit since March 7 and was mired in a mini 0-7 slump since then, drove a double to left that scored two.
With the top of the order up, a Chase Taylor groundout and a Rob Rispoli single brought the total to eight runs. The latter four runs of the inning were all unearned.
The Spartan bats didn’t threaten all that much, mustering five hits and seeing just two runners move into scoring position. Their best chance came early, after a leadoff triple off the bat of Fernandes. That didn’t last long, as, after Peyton Rowles popped out to Menzel in foul territory, the second baseman fired home for a double play.
After that triple, Hale, who started game two after locking down the save in game one, cruised the rest of the way. The junior finished this outing with 6.1 scoreless innings on just 80 pitches. The right-hander picked up his third win of the road trip and second winning start of the week.
Once all was said and done, the Huskies had covered up an abysmal start to the weekend by recovering on Sunday and essentially splitting a pair of two-game series.
After the long spring break road trip, the Huskies will return to Elliot Ballpark for the first time in over two weeks on Wednesday. They’ll face some in-state competition, as Quinnipiac (7-13) makes the hour-long trip up to Storrs for the Huskies’ final game before Big East action begins.
First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. The game will stream live on UCONN+.
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