The Daily Campus

Issue date: 3/25/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Dan Gindraux Mike Olt makes the throw to first base during the Huskies' match against Holy Cross.

After enduring a weekend sweep at the hands of Big East rival West Virginia in its first home games of 2009, the baseball team notched its first home victory of the season on Tuesday, pounding Holy Cross 9-3 at J.O. Christian Field.

Junior right-hander Doug Jennings started for the Huskies (8-10 0-3 Big East), picking up his second win on the spring with a steady five-inning performance. He was supplanted by freshman righty Matt Barnes, who struck out six batters and allowed zero runs over the final four innings to pick up the save in an outing coach Jim Penders called "dominant."

After a lack of clutch hitting doomed them the previous weekend, a reworked UConn lineup scorched Crusaders' pitching for 15 hits - many of them timely - to reward Penders for shaking up the batting order.

"We needed to go out and win today, and we did that," Penders said. "We shook it up and I thought some guys had a little bit more fun playing today, a little bit looser.

"I don't know if it was Einstein, but it was somebody a lot smarter than me that said the definition of stupidity is when you keep doing something over and over when it's not working," Penders added.

The UConn lineup saw its best power hitter, sophomore shortstop Mike Olt, switch from his usual place at the heart of the order to the top and a few lesser-used players started in place of veterans at other spots.

The Huskies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the first inning after Olt reached on a single and was later driven home on a base hit from junior leftfielder Peter Fatse.

Holy Cross (5-14, 0-0 Patriot League) capitalized on some shaky UConn defense to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the third, with the final run coming home on a line-drive single following a fly ball to right field that should have ended the inning. Swirling winds caused the ball to elude John Andreoli, but the freshman - who grew up near Holy Cross's Worcester campus - got a chance to redeem himself in the home half. He delivered an RBI single to cap a four-run frame for the Huskies off Crusaders' starter John Pedrotty.

"Johnny did a good job, I was upset with for him with that fly ball," Penders said. "He's a good outfielder, and nine times out of 10, he's gonna make that play, he just didn't make it. I was real happy he came in the bottom half of that inning with a chance to drive in a run. He's gonna be a good player. He plays real hard and he practices even harder."

Andreoli added another RBI as part of a three-run eighth for UConn. He finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and a stolen base in just his fourth start of the season. Fatse finished 4-for-4 with two runs driven in of his own. He legged out his team-leading seventh double in the eighth.

The Huskies take on Yale today at 3:30 p.m. in New Haven. Matt McDonald will get his second start of the season.

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