Baseball drops season opener to Purdue 10-2

By Mac Cerullo, Sports Editor

The No. 9 UConn baseball team stumbled out of the gate in last night’s season opener, losing to Purdue 10-2 at the Big East/Big Ten Challenge in Florida.

The Boilermakers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, eventually stretching their lead to 4-0 by the seventh inning. UConn got on the board in the bottom of the 7th, however, when Nick Ahmed reached base on a fielders choice, scoring Billy Ferriter for the Huskies first run of the game.

UConn threatened to do more damage in that inning, but wound up coming away with nothing else as Kevin Vance popped out to second, leaving the bases loaded.

The game would quickly swing back into Purdue’s favor in the top of the 8th, as the Boilermakers scored two in the inning, and then four more in the top of the 9th. UConn would collect one more run in the bottom of the 9th on a sacrifice fly by George Springer, but could not close the gap any further.

Elliot Glynn got the loss for UConn, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits during 4.2 innings pitched. Purdue’s Matt Morgan picked up the win, striking out 5 Huskies in 5.2 shutout innings.

Overall, it was not the way UConn hoped to open the year, but the Huskies will have a chance to get back on track this afternoon as they face Minnesota at 4 p.m.

At the conclusion of that game, you can find a quick recap here, along with a full recap of the entire Big East/Big Ten Challenge in Tuesday’s paper.