April 16, 2008

San Jose, CA (UWIRE) -- Just a day after the SJSU baseball team reached what reliever Ted Hurvul described as its lowest point in the season in their 9-6 loss to Northeastern, the Huskies notched a 4-3 comeback win against Hartford at J.O. Christian Field behind clutch hitting and yet another dominating performance from the bullpen.

Mike Nemeth, who played DH instead of his usual spot at first base, hit a game-winning, bases loaded single with one out in the bottom of the ninth to snap a 3-3 tie, while closer Matt Karl (3-2) pitched three gutsy innings of shutout ball to earn the win for the Huskies.

While head coach Jim Penders still feels like the team can improve, he was very satisfied with the way the Huskies fought back in such a tight ballgame, where neither team led by more than one run at any point.

"He was real happy with us today," Nemeth said. "We came back and everybody did their part especially earlier in the game, we didn't get the runs there when we might have had chances, but getting guys over, bunting guys over, doing the little things that really helped is what everybody had to do. That's why everybody's always really involved."

The win helped erase the memory of a frustrating loss to Northeastern, a game in which both head coach Jim Penders and the players felt they were completely off their game. On Tuesday, UConn came out and played much better.

"Yesterday we obviously didn't play as well as we could've, so we were looking to come back and get a 'W' today," said second baseman Pierre LePage, who went 2-for-5 and scored two of UConn's runs, including the game-winner. "It was a little closer than we had hoped, but pitchers threw well for both teams and it was a matter of timely hitting. And we did that better than they did today."

UConn starter Elliot Glynn struggled with his command early in the game, throwing just 57 percent of his pitches for strikes and issuing two walks and hitting a batter. Despite that, he managed to keep the Huskies within striking distance of Hartford, holding the Hawks to just three runs through five innings. The Huskies twice came back from being down a run to Hartford (12-16) in the game to tie things back up. Karl's three shutout innings after replacing Glynn in the seventh inning kept things status quo after UConn tied the ballgame 3-3 in the sixth inning when LePage reached on an RBI fielder's choice.

"He was locating his pitches and he showed why he is one of the top 40 closers in the nation," LePage said. "He's one of our senior leaders and he showed that today which is great."

That left the Huskies with a chance for a walk-off victory in the bottom of the ninth. And they delivered in a big way.

LePage came into the ninth inning looking to get on any way he could and after battling through an at-bat with Hartford reliever Ben Sobocinski, LePage finally got a hold of a pitch, grounding a ball to Hartford shortstop Brady Stouffer. Stouffer had to range deep to the third base side and his throw went off the mark, pulling first baseman Bobby Gorski off the bag and allowing LePage to reach.

Gordon Stevens managed to bunt LePage over to second base and Sobocinski intentionally walked Pat Mahoney. In UConn's next at bat, Peter Fatse hit what looked to be a routine grounder to short that should have been an easy force out at second base had Stouffer not held on to the ball for too long, which allowed Mahoney to sprint in safely on the play.

"He definitely did a good job getting to second base, that's huge there," Nemeth said. "Especially with me and Douggie [Elliot] coming up and Petie busting his ass down the line in case maybe they get the play at second and try and get two. That was huge because first and third with two out is so much different that bases loaded with one out."

With the bases loaded, Sobocinski fell behind Nemeth 3-0, but managed to work the count full with two borderline strikes as Nemeth received the take sign on the count. Nemeth then battled hard, fouling three pitches off before finally making solid contact to drive the ball through the right side of the infield, scoring LePage to win the game.

"It felt real good, because a couple times we had a guy on third with two out and didn't manage to get them in earlier," Nemeth said. "And you know, this is a big thing to do. We didn't play our best today, but we still came out with the win."

UConn will try to notch its second win in a row Wednesday when it heads to Providence, R.I. to play Brown (13-16) at 3 p.m. at the Bears' Murray Stadium. Trent DeLazzer (2-1, 5.34 ERA) will get the start for the Huskies.

(C) 2008 Spartan Daily via UWIRE