The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Dan Gindraux John Folino pitches during UConn's 2-0 victory over South Florida March 27. Folino pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings in that game.

There has been one constant for the baseball team almost all year - the pitching of senior John Folino. Folino's 2.89 ERA is the lowest of anyone on the team with more than 30 innings pitched, and he has won his last two starts. Folino will go for three in a row, and the Huskies (19-15, 6-6 Big East) for four on Friday when they welcome conference foe Georgetown (10-22, 3-9) for a three-game series at J.O. Christian Field.

The Huskies are hot right now, having won eight of their last 10 games. Despite their winning ways, coach Jim Penders still thinks his team needs to play better - as evidenced by its last game, an ugly 10-6 win against Brown on Wednesday.

"We didn't play a great game yesterday," Penders said. "We need to play better and limit our mistakes."

Although critical of his team's play, Penders is getting contributions from up and down his line up. Lately, it has been George Springer who has delivered, but on Wednesday Harold Brantley Jr. and Matt Burnett picked up the slack when Springer went only 1 for 5.

The four errors the Huskies made in the field, coupled with allowing the Bears to claw back by scoring four runs over the final three innings, could be cause for concern; however, the offense got off to a fast start, which is something Penders said characterizes his team's play as of late.

"We've been getting the lead early," Penders said. "That is something that we're doing a much better job of doing than we were earlier in the season."

With the Hoyas coming to town, Folino will have to be in top form - especially because of dominance of the opposing pitcher Tim Adleman. If anybody is up to it, it's Folino.

"He's been our ace all year," Penders said. "We've had some other guys step up in the middle of the week, like [Matt] McDonald, but Folino has been our most consistent pitcher - he's done a super job for us."

The Huskies have a history of struggles against Adleman. The 6-foot-5 junior is only 2-4 on the year but has a punishing fastball. Last season when UConn visited Georgetown, Adleman went six innings against the Huskies surrendering only two hits and striking out five to earn the win. Penders said UConn will have to get at him early to come away with the win.

"He can be very effective; he has a real good fastball," Penders said. "We have to put some runs on the board early and get into the bullpen.

Georgetown comes in desperate for a win. The Hoyas have lost seven in a row, including back-to-back sweeps at the hands of West Virginia and South Florida.

The Hoyas currently are mired at the bottom of the Big East standings, but every conference game becomes increasingly important for the Huskies who, as of now, find themselves in sixth - which would have them in the tournament. Seton Hall, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are all within striking distance, however, so Penders would like to continue the momentum.

"We just need to keep putting up the W's," Penders said.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools