No. 9 ECU Falls at No. 22 UConn, 3-2

STORRS, Conn. – Mason Feole allowed a pair of runs, while Troy Stefanski’s RBI ground out in the fifth inning plated Zac Susi for the game-winning run as No. 22 UCONN defeated No. 9 ECU 3-2 in American Athletic Conference action Thursday afternoon at J.O. Christian Field. With the win the Huskies improve to 31-17-1 (13-9 AAC) and the Pirates fall to 38-14 (13-9 AAC) on the season.

How It Happened:

ECU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second thanks to a throwing miscue by UCONN third baseman Conor Moriarty. Andrew Henrickson walked with one out and took second on Brady Lloyd’s single to left-center. Henrickson darted home from second on Brown’s grounder to third coupled with Moriarty’s error. UCONN took a 2-1 lead in the second thanks to RBI singles by Chris Winkel and John Toppa. Stefanski reached on an error by Spencer Brickhouse, which was followed by a double from Michael Woodworth down the left field line and Winkel’s RBI base hit to right field. Two batters later Toppa reached on an infield single to third allowing Woodworth to cross home. UCONN added another run, game-winner, in the fifth on Stefanski’s RBI ground out to second that plated Susi for a two-run lead, 3-1. Susi walked to start the frame and moved to third on Isaac Feldstein’s double down the left field line. ECU pulled within one, 3-2 in the seventh on Jake Washer’s RBI single to center that scored Bryant Packard from third capping the scoring.

Pirate Pitchers:

Chris Holba (9-1) suffered his first loss of the season allowing three runs (one earned) on seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts in four-plus innings. On the day, ECU got outings from Ryan Ross (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 K), Davis Kirkpatrick (2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 Ks), Austin Covers (0.1 IP, 1 H) and Trey Benton (0.2 IP).

Huskies Staff:

Feole (8-1) got the win allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits with four walks and four punch outs in 6.1 innings. P.J. Poulin notched his 14th save of the season giving up a walk and striking out one in 1.1 innings. Bridging the gap between the two lefties was Jacob Wallace, who issued two hits and walked one in his 1.1 frames.

ECU Bats:

The Pirates tallied nine hits on the day getting a pair each from Spencer Brickhouse, Packard and Washer. Also, collecting base knocks were Turner Brown, Andrew Henrickson and Brady Lloyd – all added one. Washer drove in the lone run with a single in the seventh, while the Pirates first run came on a Husky error in the second stanza.

Things To Know:

Packard broke Stephen Batts’ school record for games with a consecutive in the fifth inning with a single to center pushing his hit streak to 30 games, while his on-base streak went to 35 contests … He added another base knock in the seventh for his team-leading 23rd multi-hit game of the year … Earlier in the day, Packard was one of 35 players announced as a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy …

Brickhouse pushed his on-base streak to 22 games with a base hit to right in the opening frame … The sophomore tallied a pair of hits pushing his multi-hit total to 16 on the season …

Williams-Sutton extended his on-base streak to 18 games with a walk in the seventh frame … He finished the day 0-for-3 with a pair of walks …

Washer also added a pair of hits recording his 12 multi-hit game of the year …

The loss snapped the Pirates 10-game road winning streak and dropped their road record to 18-3 on the year, which is still second-best in the nation …

Up Next:

ECU and UCONN will close out the 2018 regular season with a doubleheader on Friday, May 18 starting at 11 a.m. (ET). Game two of the day will start approximately 45 minutes following game one.