LATE SATURDAY: UCONN HOLDS OFF STANFORD IN SUPER REGIONAL OPENER
A hit parade lifted UConn to an opening night victory in the NCAA Super Regional on Saturday.
UConn pounded out 17 hits while outslugging second-seeded Stanford 13-12 at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond, moving within one win of advancing to the College World Series for the first time since 1979.
The two teams meet Sunday at 7 p.m. in the second game of the best-of-three series with a deciding game, if necessary, scheduled for today. Visit www.theday.com for an update on Sunday night's game, which ended too late for this edition.
UConn's offense finished with 10 extra-base hits — seven doubles, a triple and two home runs — and the Huskies (50-14) needed every one of them as Stanford (45-18) belted eight home runs, three by Brock Jones, and hit four in the ninth inning when it scored six runs and had the game-winning run at the plate before closer Justin Willis struck out Adam Crampton with a runner on first to end the game.
Coming off a College Park (Md.) Regional championshp, UConn got off to a fast-and-furious start.
An eight-run second inning pushed the Huskies in front, 9-0, and chased Stanford ace Alex Williams (8-3) after just 1.1 innings, his shortest outing of the year.
They sent 12 batters to the plate and had nine hits, including four doubles and two-run homers by Matt Donlan and Korey Morton.
By the end of the fourth inning, every UConn player had at least one hit and UConn held a comfortable 11-4 lead.
Starter and winning Pat Gallagher (11-3) settled down after a rough start. He gave up four runs in the second inning, then pitched four shutout innings. He walked one and struck out seven before leaving after 6.1 innings.
Seven different Huskies drove in runs, including three apiece by Donlan and Casey Dana. California native T.C. Simmons singled, doubled, tripled and drove in two runs while Morton added two hits and two RBI.