UConn Uses Edge To Push Into College Park Regional Driver’s Seat

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Nominally, Connecticut was the home team Saturday night against Maryland at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium. Instead of using seeding to determine which team bats last, NCAA Tournament rules favor equitability and so the advantage flips back and forth throughout the weekend. On Saturday, it was the Huskies’ turn.

UConn might have been wearing white and batting last, but by far the bulk of the sold-out crowd of 3,000 people were rooting for Maryland. For the second consecutive night, Terrapins’ fans packed The Bob, hoping for another thrilling win to match Friday’s 23-2 victory against Long Island.

But, nearly from the start, the Huskies silenced the crowd. After righthander Pat Gallagher set the Terrapins down in order on nine pitches in the top of the first inning, UConn’s bats quickly got to work. David Smith and Erik Stock led off the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back home runs. For added symmetry, the home runs came in the first nine pitches righthander Jason Savacool threw Saturday.

“I loved the fact we came out swinging,” coach Jim Penders said. “We were on the attack from the get-go.”

That mindset never wavered for UConn. The Huskies never trailed and went on to win, 10-5, to advance to Sunday evening’s regional final. The Terrapins, meanwhile, play Wake Forest at 1 p.m. in an elimination game.

UConn’s special season continues to roll on. With the win, the Big East champions improved to 48-13, a win total second nationally only to top-ranked Tennessee (55). The Huskies are now one win away from advancing to super regionals for the second time ever and the first time since 2011.

On Saturday, UConn simply took care of business against Maryland, the No. 15 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Gallagher threw seven strong innings, holding Maryland to two runs and working around seven hits and two walks. He struck out six and improved to 10-3, 3.17. The Huskies hit four home runs with Matt Donlan and Zach Blushing adding blasts to Smith and Stock’s first-inning homers. UConn pounded out 13 hits, seven of which went for extra bases, and beat Savacool, who has perhaps been Maryland’s best pitcher this season. In all, it was enough to become just the third team this season to beat Maryland at The Bob and the first to do so since April 30 (Northwestern).

Saturday night was a collective effort for the Huskies, but the win was a little extra sweet for Gallagher. In addition to picking up both his 10th win and 100th strikeout of the season, he got redemption after a poor start a year ago in an elimination game of the South Bend Regional against Central Michigan. He gave up eight runs (four earned) in 3.1 innings in a loss that ended UConn’s season.

So, when Gallagher got the ball a year later in the Huskies’ biggest game yet, he was ready for redemption.

“Getting back to a regional and getting to pitch again is very special to me,” he said. “It was awesome to get another opportunity and I knew I was in this position for a reason. I wasn’t going to let it slip away. I was going to grab it and run with it.”

Run with it he did. He quieted one of the best offenses in the country, which came into the weekend averaging 9.1 runs per game and with the third most home runs in the nation. But Gallagher didn’t back down and instead, Penders said, brought a nastier mindset to the mound.

Gallagher worked around traffic throughout the game, bending sometimes, but never breaking to deliver another quality start and put last year’s postseason disappointment to bed.

“It’s just very satisfying as an education to see someone learn from an experience a year later and put their best foot forward,” Penders said. “It was really extra sweet that he was able to pitch that well tonight.”

UConn now will look to bring that edge to Sunday’s regional final.

UConn has been a consistent regional team under Penders, making eight of the last 12 NCAA Tournaments. The Huskies won the 2011 Clemson Regional and have played in two other regional finals. Never before, however, has UConn been in this advantageous position.

Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams and the format switched to four-team regionals in 1999, more than 80% of all regionals have been won by the team that starts 2-0. It’s easy to understand why—that team goes into Sunday needing just one more win in two tries. The other two teams still alive need to win three straight games.

So, that’s the situation for UConn going into Sunday. Win one more time in College Park and it will advance to super regionals for the second time ever.

For some teams, it could be heady stuff. But the Huskies are a veteran team led by a coach who’s not going to let the moment get to him or his team.

“We don’t talk about anything more than 1-0, that’s been the motto all season,” Penders said. “You don’t have any streaks unless you go 1-0 and do it again and again. The idea here is to go 1-0 three times in a row. We have a chance to go 1-0 tomorrow and win a championship. It feels really good.”