STORRS, Conn. – The Villanova baseball team's comeback effort came up just short on Thursday, May 14, as the Wildcats dropped the opening game of the series to UConn, 6-5.
UConn struck first in the bottom of the opening inning. The Huskies opened the game with a double into right-center field followed by a single through the left side to put runners on the corners with no outs. A sacrifice fly to left brought home the game's first run and gave UConn an early 1-0 lead.
Villanova threatened in the top of the third after back-to-back singles to begin the inning, but the Wildcats were unable to capitalize and remained behind by one.
The Huskies answered in the home half of the inning with consecutive singles of their own to put two runners aboard. After a wild pitch moved both into scoring position, a groundout to shortstop plated another run to extend the UConn lead to 2-0 after three innings.
The Wildcats continued to create opportunities over the next few frames, including putting runners on first and second with two outs in the fourth, but were unable to break through offensively.
UConn added to its advantage in the fifth inning. Back-to-back singles put runners on the corners before a base hit through the right side drove in the Huskies' third run of the afternoon. A groundout later in the inning brought home another run, giving UConn a 4-0 lead.
Graduate student
Carter Richey and freshman
Larry Hotaling each reached safely to open the seventh inning, but Villanova once again left runners stranded as the score remained unchanged heading into the bottom half of the frame.
The Wildcats finally broke through in the eighth. For the second straight inning, Villanova's first two batters reached base safely to start the frame. Hotaling collected his third hit of the night with an RBI knock to bring home the Wildcats' first run. Later in the inning, a UConn error allowed two more runs to score as Villanova trimmed the deficit to 4-3.
The Huskies quickly responded in the bottom of the eighth. After a leadoff double, UConn launched a two-run homer to push its lead back to three runs at 6-3 heading into the ninth.
Villanova answered with a big swing of its own in the final inning. Senior
Collin Quintano blasted his 10th home run of the season, a two-run shot, to cut the deficit to one with one out remaining. However, the Wildcats were unable to bring home the tying run as UConn held on for the 6-5 victory.
UP NEXT
Villanova will continue its series with UConn on Friday, May 15, with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
