Josh Farkes makes a sliding play on the ball in the Huskies' 14-13 victory Thursday.

Baseball Completes Comeback

CCSU Blows Eight Run First

By: Matt Schonvisky

Posted: 4/28/06

In one of the poorest pitched games in recent memory, the UConn baseball team overcame an early nine - yes that was a nine - run deficit to defeat Central Connecticut State, 14-13, in a wild game at J.O. Christian Field Thursday.

The scoring started in the top of the first for the Blue Devils, as eight of the first nine batters reached base and scored. The game began on back-to-back singles by Richie Tri and Seth Brown.
Following a Sean Salvatore pop-out, the next six hitters reached base. It started with a walk of Adam Taha that loaded the bases, followed by back-to-back two-run doubles by Matt Memoli and Jay Schillaci.

In total, eight runs crossed the plate before UConn starter John Slusarz was pulled after two-thirds of an inning. His pitching line - eight runs on eight hits with one walk and no strikeouts.

"Slu's done a great job all year and this was his first non-quality start," said UConn head coach Jim Penders following the win. "He spot started for us in West Virginia and got the win in his last appearance which was a while ago so he was a little rusty."

David Bodge relieved Slusarz and got the final out of the inning.
"Our guys kind of got together in the dugout after the abomination of a first inning," Penders said. "The juniors and seniors really stepped up and I really didn't have to say anything."

After CCSU added a run in the top half of the second, the Huskies finally started to get it going at the plate. Pat Mahoney led off with a double followed by three walks to Bryan Maler, Dennis Donovan and Matt Karl, the last driving in the Huskies' first run. Then Josh Farkes stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and promptly hit a one-one slider over the left field fence for a grand slam that brought the score to a manageable 9-5.

"Obviously we were down big," Farkes said. "Their pitcher was having trouble throwing strikes and I got the one-one pitch."

However, the Blue Devils added three more runs over the next two innings to stretch their lead to seven at 12-5 before UConn added two of their own in the home half of the fourth to make it 12-7.

The Huskies turned to Ted Garry to keep the deficit in reach and he came through with a 1-2-3 sixth. That allowed UConn to get back into the game as Karl led off with a single before Farkes was hit by a pitch. Two wild pitches allowed Karl to score before Larry Day hit a two-run triple to right that cut the lead to two runs.

Garry again stepped up with another 1-2-3 inning in the seventh which allowed the Huskies to take the lead in the bottom of the seventh as they batted around. Maler, Karl and Dale Brannon each had singles before Austin Wasserman hit a two-run triple that gave the Huskies their first lead at 13-12. Matt Untiet followed with an RBI single for the fourth run of the inning to make it 14-12.

"We battled as a team," Farkes said. "You never believe you are out of a game, especially in the first inning. Once we started getting base runners we were just plugging away."

However, CCSU would not go away without a fight. They scored one run off Garry in the eighth, but left the bases loaded when Brown flew out to Maler in center. In the ninth, Matt Karl relieved Garry and walked the first man he faced, but Taha grounded into a double play. Karl hit the next man, but Schillaci struck out swinging to end the game.

Garry improved his record to 3-1 as he got the win, while Karl recorded his second save.

"This was a really good win," Penders said. "It was the kind of game that will put you in an early grave, but it was a great come from behind win. We took it one pitch at a time and didn't panic."