The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Erin Odell A UConn player slides into second base during the Huskies' loss to Boston College last week.

While the baseball team is coming off back-to-back series victories in the Big East, its record still can not seem to break the .500 mark. The Huskies (14-14, 4-5 Big East) look to break free of mediocrity as they close out their road trip with a three-game series against conference foe Rutgers.

Although the Huskies have had success on recent weekends, winning four of their last six, it is the mid-week games that have given them struggles as of late the Huskies recently dropped a 6-4 decision to Hartford and had a heartbreaking 5-4 loss against Boston College.

Rutgers heads into the weekend desperate for a win. The Scarlet Knights (12-17, 2-6) come in as losers of four in a row after getting swept by St. John's in a three-game series and losing a lopsided 9-1 game to an over-matched Columbia team.

It is the Rutgers pitching staff that has been most at fault in the recent stretch. In the three games against St. John's, the Rutgers hurlers surrendered a combined 42 runs. The trend is nothing new; earlier in the year the Scarlet Knights gave up 31 to South Florida in a weekend series.

The statistics tell the story. Of Rutgers' three innings leaders, the lowest ERA belongs to Willie Beard at 5.87.

Though Rutgers' pitching has not been particularly impressive, the team's bats have picked up the slack. Sophomore Michael Lang leads the team in home runs (4) and doubles (11). Though he has power, he hits for average as well. His .348 average is also tops on the team.

The Husky bats will need to take advantage of the recent lackluster pitching, and that hinges on the performance of freshman standout George Springer. Springer had another solid weekend against Seton Hall, finishing with a home run and four RBI in the series. The home run, his sixth, tied him with Mike Olt for the team lead, and he is currently third on the team in RBI (22) behind Peter Fatse and Olt.

It's not surprising that an underclassman like Springer has been the catalyst for the Husky offense this year, as much of the production comes from the younger players. Olt, Fatse and Mike Nemeth, who are all hitting over .300, are all underclassmen, with Nemeth and Olt only being sophomores.

The pitching staff has been solid as of late as well. John Folino, winner of his last two starts, is 3-2 on the year and has a scant 2.87 ERA. He is first on the team in innings pitched, strike-outs and wins, and his recent performance has made it clear why he was named pre-season All Big East.

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