Baseball America 10 Take-aways from Saturday:
-> Connecticut Even Series with Virginia
It’s a rule of thumb that if you are a highly-ranked team and you play Connecticut early in the season, the Huskies are going to make your life a little difficult.
Last season, for example, UConn took two of three from Michigan one week after the Wolverines moved up to No. 1 in the rankings. In 2019, the Huskies won a series with Louisville on Opening Weekend. And after a 10-9 victory Saturday at No. 5 Virginia, UConn has evened its series with yet another top-five team.
No one would confuse this game with a modern baseball masterpiece. It took nearly four-and-a-half hours. The teams combined to use 12 pitchers. Virginia issued 11 walks and hit two others. The UConn defense allowed six unearned runs, including two in the ninth inning, when a dropped fly ball in right field turned a 10-7 game into a 10-9 game with the tying run on third base.
But there are no deductions for ugly wins, and that’s all that matters for the Huskies, who got big days from second baseman Christian Fedko, who went 4-for-6, and third baseman Chris Brown, who drove in four runs.
Even if Virginia fights back and wins the finale on Sunday, this is exactly the type of win that will age like a fine wine as UConn jockeys for a position in the NCAA Tournament. <-