April 9, 2011
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format
| Photo Gallery 
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Connecticut’s George Springer went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run and the Huskies took advantage of five Notre Dame walks en route to a 6-3 victory Saturday afternoon at Frank Eck Stadium. UConn improved to 17-10-1 overall and 7-1 in the BIG EAST, while the Irish dropped to 12-16-1 and 3-5.
Elliott Glynn picked up the victory for the Huskies and improved to 2-4 on the campaign. The southpaw tossed just 5.0 innings, but limited Notre Dame to a pair of earned runs on four hits. Glynn struck out one and walked one.
Irish senior RHP Cole Johnson was charged with the loss. He dropped to 2-5. Johnson failed to register a quality start for the first time in eight outings in 2011. He allowed just four hits and struck out six in 4.1 innings of work, but surrendered five runs, all earned, and walked three.
Three of the Huskies five runs off Johnson reached base via walk or hit-by-pitch.
Kevin Vance pitched a scoreless ninth for the second straight day to pick up the save.
Freshman 1B Trey Mancini was the lone offensive bright spot for the Irish. He went 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI single. Mancini leads Notre Dame in all three triple-crown statistics: batting average (.343), home runs (four) and RBI (18).
Freshman LHP Anthony McIver tossed 1.2 scoreless innings of relief and junior RHP Will Hudgins followed with 1.1 scoreless innings of relief. McIver allowed a couple hits and one walk. Hudgins surrendered three hits.
Sophomore 2B Frank DeSico went 1-for-3 with a run scored. Fifth-year senior RF Herman Petzold went 1-for-4. Freshman CF Eric Jagielo was hitless in four at bats, which ended his hitting streak at a career-best eight games.
Notre Dame grabbed a first inning lead on Mancini’s two-out RBI single. Mancini drove in DeSico, who led off the game with a base hit. Mancini moved into scoring position on the throw home, but Petzold lined out to centerfield to end the inning.
Johnson worked around a pair of errors in the top of the first and a walk in the second inning, but was unable to evade damage in the third.
Johnson struck out L.J. Mazzilli to open the inning, his fourth of the game, but walked Nick Ahmed. Springer followed with a towering, two-run home run to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead. The long ball was Springer’s fourth of 2011.
Notre Dame manufactured a run and drew even, 2-2, in the bottom of the fourth. Mancini singled with one out and Petzold followed with another base hit to put runners on the corners with one out. Senior 3B Greg Sherry executed a safety squeeze to perfection, which scored Mancini and moved Petzold into scoring position. Sophomore DH Adam Norton, however, was not able to drive in Mancini and flew out to right field to end the inning.
Connecticut quickly answered with three runs in the top of the fifth. Johnson plunked Ahmed to open the inning. After getting Springer to fly out, Johnson issued a walk to Mike Nemeth and Ryan Fuller punished the Irish for the two free bases with a two-run triple to the left field wall to give the Huskies a 4-2 advantage.
The triple ended the afternoon for Johnson.
With Fuller at third base, one out and the Irish infield defense drawn in, John Andreoli greeted McIver with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 5-2.
Notre Dame did make some noise in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs — thanks to some poor Connecticut defense. Senior LF Matt Grosso walked and sophomore pinch hitter Ricky Palmer reached when Mazzilli was unable to come up with a pop up in short right field. Grosso raced to third. DeSico then reached on another error when Fuller threw high of first base. With the tying run in scoring position, Will Jolin got senior SS Mick Doyle to ground out to end the inning.
McIver, Hudgins and Norton kept the Huskies off the board until the top of the ninth inning. Norton walked Nemeth, who eventually came around to score and give UConn a 6-3 lead on Elliot’s two-out RBI single.
The three-run cushion was more than enough for Vance, who retired the Irish in order in the ninth inning.
Elliot went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Fuller went 2-for-4 with a run scored and the two-run triple.
Notre Dame and UConn will return to action at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday at Frank Eck Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on WHME Harvest 103.1 FM and live audio and video will be available online at UND.com. Live stats will also be available on GameTracker.
As always, please visit UND.com regularly for full coverage of all Notre Dame athletics news and events.
— ND —