Spring Break
Pitchers can't halt WVU in sweep
Kevin Vellturo
Issue date: 3/23/09 Section: Sports
After playing their first 14 games of the season on the road, the UConn baseball team returned to Storrs for a three-game series against West Virginia. The trip home proved not to be beneficial, as the Mountaineers swept the Huskies for the second consecutive year.
After falling behind early on Friday, UConn was able to climb its way back and tie the score at six in the seventh inning - only to give up the winning run in the top of the 9th behind a walk and a hit batsman to fall, 7-6.
Saturday saw a good outing by Elliot Glynn wasted. The Huskies held a 2-1 lead entering the seventh inning, but trailed 7-2 by the end of the visitors' half - thanks in part to a grand slam from West Virginia's Vince Belnome. The Mountaineers tacked on five more runs for a 12-2 win.
Sunday was much of the same. A four-run fourth inning - highlighted by a three-run home run from Peter Fatse that gave the Huskies a 4-1 lead at the time - was erased over the following five innings. Three Husky errors helped the Mountaineers score six runs in that span and go home with a 7-4 win, and the sweep.
Plaguing the Huskies all weekend was a lack of timely hitting, in addition to the bullpen issuing too many walks. That was no more apparent than on Saturday afternoon according to coach Jim Penders.
"We gave them too many free passes," Penders said. "We gave them a chance to break it open and they did."
In the decisive seventh inning on Saturday, Glynn gave up a lead off home run followed by a walk. His replacement, Dan Mahoney, hit the first batter he faced and walked the second to load the bases. After a strike out he surrendered a grand slam to Belnome.
The Huskies had opportunities to come back but were unable to take advantage of them.
"The difference today was that they got timely hits and we didn't," Penders said. "We need to get a few two-out RBI's at some point if we want to get a few wins. We were tentative at the plate today."
The Huskies best chance came in the eighth inning. After back-to-back singles from George Springer and Mike Nemeth to lead off the inning, Doug Elliot and Nick Ahmed struck out and Pierre LePage grounded out to second to end the threat.
The top of the ninth would see any chance at a bottom of the ninth come back evaporate as the Mountaineers scored five runs - helped out by two walks and another hit batsman, to push their lead to 10.
If there is a silver lining to a 10 run loss, it was Glynn's performance. Despite the loss, the sophomore pitched 6.2 strong innings, before giving way to the bullpen which gave up the bulk of the runs. Penders thought it was a solid performance.
"He battled back after he didn't start out too great," Glynn said. "He gave us a chance to win and that's all you can ask for from a guy."
After falling behind early on Friday, UConn was able to climb its way back and tie the score at six in the seventh inning - only to give up the winning run in the top of the 9th behind a walk and a hit batsman to fall, 7-6.
Saturday saw a good outing by Elliot Glynn wasted. The Huskies held a 2-1 lead entering the seventh inning, but trailed 7-2 by the end of the visitors' half - thanks in part to a grand slam from West Virginia's Vince Belnome. The Mountaineers tacked on five more runs for a 12-2 win.
Sunday was much of the same. A four-run fourth inning - highlighted by a three-run home run from Peter Fatse that gave the Huskies a 4-1 lead at the time - was erased over the following five innings. Three Husky errors helped the Mountaineers score six runs in that span and go home with a 7-4 win, and the sweep.
Plaguing the Huskies all weekend was a lack of timely hitting, in addition to the bullpen issuing too many walks. That was no more apparent than on Saturday afternoon according to coach Jim Penders.
"We gave them too many free passes," Penders said. "We gave them a chance to break it open and they did."
In the decisive seventh inning on Saturday, Glynn gave up a lead off home run followed by a walk. His replacement, Dan Mahoney, hit the first batter he faced and walked the second to load the bases. After a strike out he surrendered a grand slam to Belnome.
The Huskies had opportunities to come back but were unable to take advantage of them.
"The difference today was that they got timely hits and we didn't," Penders said. "We need to get a few two-out RBI's at some point if we want to get a few wins. We were tentative at the plate today."
The Huskies best chance came in the eighth inning. After back-to-back singles from George Springer and Mike Nemeth to lead off the inning, Doug Elliot and Nick Ahmed struck out and Pierre LePage grounded out to second to end the threat.
The top of the ninth would see any chance at a bottom of the ninth come back evaporate as the Mountaineers scored five runs - helped out by two walks and another hit batsman, to push their lead to 10.
If there is a silver lining to a 10 run loss, it was Glynn's performance. Despite the loss, the sophomore pitched 6.2 strong innings, before giving way to the bullpen which gave up the bulk of the runs. Penders thought it was a solid performance.
"He battled back after he didn't start out too great," Glynn said. "He gave us a chance to win and that's all you can ask for from a guy."
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