Huskies Upset No. 1 Seed Louisville in Big East Tournament

University of Connecticut senior centerfielder Billy Ferriter (Nashua, N.H.) hit an RBI single in the top of the 12th inning that scored sophomore leftfielder Eric Yavarone (North Haven, Conn.) to lead the No. 8-seed UConn baseball team to a 3-2 win over top-seed Louisville in the first round of the BIG EAST tournament on Wednesday night.

UConn advances to the winners’ bracket of the tournament and takes on USF. The UConn game will be at 8 p.m. (ESPN2, WTIC.com, WHUS-91.7 FM) and Louisville now plays an elimination game vs. Rutgers at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. UConn is 31-26 on the season while the Cardinals, ranked No. 10 in the country, fall to 46-11.

UConn is the first No. 8 seed to knock off the top seed in BIG EAST opening round action since Villanova topped St. John’s in 2008

Husky sophomore starting pitcher Carson Cross (Brentwood, N.H.) gave up both of the Cardinals’ two runs in the first inning, but was sensational the rest of the as he pitched into the tenth inning and gave up just seven hits and no walks while striking out three.

Sophomore David Mahoney (Colchester, Conn.) picked the win in two-and-a-third innings of hitless relief, including a four-pitch 11th inning, to improve to 1-2 on the season while senior Pat Butler (Chatham, N.J.) got the final two Louisville batters to end the game to earn his third save of the season.

In the UConn 12th, Yavarone led off with a single and a sacrifice bunt by senior DH Stanley Paul (Stamford, Conn.) moved him to second. After a groundout, Ferriter delivered his two-out single for the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run.

UConn scored single runs in the first and fifth innings. In the first, a sacrifice fly by freshman third baseman Vinny Siena (Woodbridge, Conn.) plated Ferriter while in the fifth, Siena had a two-out single that scored senior second baseman LJ Mazzilli (Greenwich, Conn.).

Ferriter was four for five on the night with a run scored and the critical RBI. Mazzilli was two for three while Yavarone was two for five.

Louisville reliever Nick Burdi (2-2) took the loss as he gave up two hits and the winning run in relief. Nick Ratajczak was two for five to lead the Louisville offense.

Reprinted with permission from UConnHuskies.com

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