After a tough loss to start the Big East Tournament, the UConn baseball team bounced back on a short turnaround to defeat and eliminate St. John’s, 13-3, in a losers’ bracket game Thursday in Mason, Ohio.
The Huskies (37-20) stay alive, but must beat either Xavier or Creighton, depending in which team lost the later game on Thursday, in another elimination game Friday at 5 p.m. To emerge as Big East champs, the No. 2 seeded Huskies would then have to beat either Xavier or Creighton twice on Saturday.
Dom Amore: UConn baseball rides out storms, ready to attack Big East, NCAA tournaments
UConn led 6-0 early and 8-6 in the ninth inning before losing to Xavier, 11-8, in 10 innings to open the tournament on Wednesday night. The Huskies have lost three of four games against Xavier this season.
But the Huskies won all four against St. John’s. The game Thursday went back and forth and was tied at 3 when Ryan Daniels, the Big East Player of the Year, hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning. Teammate Aidan Dougherty hit a two-run shot later in the inning. Tyler Minick homered for the second game in a row, a three-run shot to give UConn an 11-3 lead in the sixth. It was Minick’s 22nd homer of the year. Dougherty, hitting .345, had four hits and three RBI, Bryan Padilla had two hits and two RBI.
Greg Shaw III relieved starter Thomas Ellison and pitched five scoreless innings to settle the game down for UConn, earn the win and rest bullpen arms for coach Jim Penders to use the rest of the weekend. The Huskies, who began the day ranked 43rd in RPI, are on the bubble in contention for an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament if they do not win the conference’s automatic bid.
Dom Amore: This UConn baseball slugger is swinging for the stars
Central opener postponed: Thursday’s games in the NEC tournament in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. were postponed due to rain. No. 3 Central Connecticut plays No. 2 Wagner at 4 p.m. to start the double elimination tournament. Central’s Aidan Redahan, who led the nation in hitting with a .462 average, was named the conference player of the year. … In the MAAC, No. 2 Fairfield plays No. 3 Sacred Heart on Friday at 10 a.m., with No. 5 Quinnipiac to play top-seeded Ryder at 2 p.m. in Pomona, N.Y.
