For the sixth-straight season since rejoining the Big East, the UConn Huskies (32-23, 15-5 Big East) clinched at least a piece of the conference regular season title on Friday night and did it in style, smoking Villanova (18-30, 4-16 Big East), 8-0.
“It feels amazing,” Huskies outfielder Chris Polemeni said after the game. “Coming into the program, I know we’re known for winning championships and we all expected it. It’s just about how we perform and getting it done.”
Polemeni was responsible for half
of the Huskies’ runs, contributing four RBIs and both beginning and finishing the scoring for UConn.
The designated hitter started with a boom in the second inning, lifting an oppo-shot towards right field that barely cleared the blue padding and found the black chain link fence for a wall-scraping solo home run.
“Just staying simple and doing damage early in the count,” Polemeni said. “Advantage counts, I’m always looking to do damage until I have to shorten up, just like with runners in scoring position. Just staying short and do damage, that’s it.”
It’s the second-straight weekend in which Polemeni has blasted a big home run following his grand slam in the series finale against Seton Hall last weekend in a game UConn won 7-3.
Though the home run would eventually stand as the game winning run, Polemeni followed that up in the seventh with a bases clearing two-out double into the left field gap with the bases loaded. The ball two-hopped the base of the wall and took an unfriendly ricochet in front of center fielder Jack Roventini.
Had Roventini received the chance to field the ball cleanly, Villanova may have had a chance to throw the trail runner out at home. Even then, it may not have been enough to get a hobbling Rob Rispoli, who had reached earlier in the inning after being hit by pitch on his left knee, as shortstop Michael Whooley dropped the ball on the transfer during the relay.
In between Polemeni’s two big extra base knocks, Rispoli popped a three-run long ball of his own in the third over the Big East Championship list on the left field fence, one which will soon receive a new addition.
Nater Wachter also added an RBI single in the fourth to drive in Peyton Jemison with an unearned run. After reaching on an error by Whooley, Jemison swiped second and advanced to third on a wild pitch before coming around to score.
Making the final regular season start of a year which will likely culminate in a Big East Pitcher of the Year award, Cayden Suchy saved some of his best for last.
The left-hander made that clear right out of the gate, retiring the first nine Wildcats batters he faced.
While his three strikeouts on the evening weren’t quite enough to retake the conference lead from teammate Charlie West (106 Ks), 104 punchouts on the year is nothing to snuff at.
What will really remain in the heads of Big East coaches when they go to vote is the six scoreless innings he worked to improve his record to 5-2 and lower his season ERA to 2.61.
Frank Spirito IV also gave the Huskies two scoreless innings with a pair of punchouts in his best outing of the season, while Austin Trumpour tossed a scoreless ninth to bring his ERA down to 2.20.
At the plate, Jackson Marshall extended his on-base streak to 44 games and got on three times.
“I love watching him hit,” UConn head coach Jim Penders said. “ I mean, he’s not a power guy. People think, ‘oh, he’s a power hitter.’ Yeah, he is a hitter first and foremost, with power, and it’s fun to watch.
Anthony Belisario was another offensive standout, posting his second-straight multi-hit performance and slugging his second double of the weekend. The center fielder also stole a base.
The Huskies are now the only team left in the Big East that control their own destiny in the conference standings. They are also the only team who can win it outright.
It’s as simple as this: if the Huskies beat Villanova on Saturday, UConn will sit alone on top of the Big East regular season mountain.
If they lose, things become a little more complicated.
Creighton (29-23, 13-7 Big East) is officially out of the way after a 3-2 nail-biter loss to Xavier (26-28, 14-6 Big East). That leaves the Musketeers and St. John’s (29-24, 14-6 Big East), who topped Butler 7-2 today to even that series, as the only two teams who can still tie the Huskies.
If both teams lose, the Huskies still win the league outright. If UConn loses and one or both teams win, they will share the conference crown. The Huskies hold the tie breaker over Xavier for the Big East Championship tournament but not St. John’s, meaning that the only way that UConn isn’t the one-seed is if the Red Storm tie for first.
Still, the Huskies will look to make it easy by going for the sweep against Villanova on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. at Elliot Ballpark on Senior Day. The game will stream live on ESPN+.
“Certainly, we want to win it outright tomorrow, and we want to have a winning record at Elliot Ballpark. We can accomplish both tomorrow,” Penders said. “But, you know, it is worth celebrating it for 10, 15 minutes, because we hadn’t won one of these things until 2011. That was the first time we did it. We got some of those guys in the stands tonight.”
