The Daily Campus

Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Dan Gindraux Matt McDonald was cruising against CCSU for 4 2/3 innings Wednesday before being forced from the game after tweaking his groin.

Central Connecticut was buried under 16 hits and 8 runs by the baseball team Wednesday. The Huskies dominated the Blue Devils offense as well, allowing only three hits en route to a 8-0 blowout.

"We did some things offensively that you have to be happy about," said head coach Jim Penders. "We still left some runners on but overall you have to be happy with the win."

It could have been worse; the Huskies stranded nine different runners on base. Gordon Stevens left one on base, but also drove in three, going 3-for-4 with a home run.

"I have been feeling comfortable for about two weeks now," Stevens said. "I just found a couple good pitches and put some good swings on them."

Stevens was one of eight different Huskies to grab a hit off four different Blue Devils pitchers. The UConn hitters terrorized Central's pitching all day, including Brad Olt, who has only played 21 games out of a possible 46 and was batting .176 coming into yesterday's game. Olt went 2-for-3 with two doubles on the day.

"Brad plays with zero fear, plays with some aggression and some anger, and we need that right now," Penders said. "He is not one of our most talented players but he is one of our toughest and right now we need some toughness in our lineup."

Olt was able to deliver back-breaking hits throughout the game, which continued to widen the Huskies lead. Along with the team's big offensive performance came an aggressive style on the basepaths. The Huskies were able to steal four bases on the day, which plays into the style that they wish to play.

"I think it's certainly a little easier to be aggressive on the weekdays then on the weekends, weekends with the pitching that your facing it's a little bit different," Penders said. "We certainly want to play like that all the time. We have to play scrappy and we got a good practice in yesterday and I think that helped us today."

The Huskies would ideally like to put constant pressure on opposing pitchers with bunts, hit-and-runs and steals, Penders said. Team speed is key and no one carries it faster on the field than Pierre LePage, who was able to collect three hits on the day and put enourmous pressure on the four Blue Devil pitchers.

While the Huskies were hitting the ball at will, their pitching rendered the Blue Devils offense useless. Matt McDonald, Dusty Odenbach, Trent Delazzer and Matt Karl combined for a shutout. McDonald let up the only hits of the game and the hits never really developed into threats to score.

The win snaps a four-game slide the Huskies were on. The team stayed positive throughout and all wanted to pick up this victory.

"We all came out here knowing that we needed to win, we just came out and did what we had to do," Stevens said.

Ideally, the Huskies would like to build on this victory for the future.

"I feel like it should carry over to the rest of the games throughout the season," Stevens said. "We just needed a win to pick ourselves up and it feels good to win."

The Huskies next play Notre Dame in a three-game series May beginning Friday.



Contact Jake Goldberg at

Jacob.Goldberg@UConn.edu.

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