By Jenna Majeski, news staff
The Huskies fetched their first victory of the season this weekend in Fort Myers, Florida, finishing their three-game series against Creighton University with a 2-1 record.
Racking up a total of seven runs in their first game on Friday, the team was unable to match up to Creighton’s 15 runs and started the weekend with a disappointing loss.
“We had a tough one on Friday, tough loss,” third-year captain Charlie McConnell said. “You never want that to be the first game of the season.”
The Huskies only managed one run in the first eight innings, but were able to add another six runs in the bottom of the ninth for a respectable final score.
The series quickly turned around with a 12-7 victory Saturday afternoon, featuring a standout performance by McConnell, who went 5-5 and scored three runs.
The team started off slowly, with only two runs in the first four innings, but soon found their rhythm. The Huskies scored four runs in the fifth and six runs in the sixth — enough to pull ahead of Creighton’s lone three runs by the end of the sixth inning.
With this newfound momentum, the Huskies were able to pull out a strong start to their final game of the series, completing five runs in the first inning and eventually scoring another victory against Creighton with a final score of 8-3.
“It ended up being a great weekend,” head coach Mike Glavine said. “They jumped on us quickly Friday, but we bounced back on Saturday and did a great job on Sunday. We didn’t let the loss affect us.”
Second-year Scott Holzwasser played a decisive role in the weekend victory. He scored his first home run of the 2018 season, batted in a total of four runners and achieved a .583 batting average for the weekend.
Holzwasser was named the inaugural CAA Player of the Week on Tuesday, not even three weeks after being added to the 2018 Preseason All-CAA Team.
Glavine acknowledged efforts of the other players, particularly Sean Mellen, a second-year pitcher who totaled 11 strikeouts in the third game of the series.
“We showed a lot of talent in a lot of areas,” Glavine said.
The Huskies expect a challenging season with a demanding schedule ahead of them.
“We have a really tough schedule, probably the toughest schedule we’ve ever had,” Glavine said.
He mentioned key upcoming games against University of Missouri and Auburn University, which comprise only a fraction of the 21 games the team will play before their first conference game in March, when their skills will really be put to the test.
Glavine expects to take the beginning of the season to figure out where the players fit best in the lineup and put the team together before these conference games. In terms of getting there, he said, consistency is key.
“Staying consistent is probably the hardest thing in baseball, being consistent day in and day out,” McConnell said.
The Huskies will continue their hard work this weekend with their annual exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox Thursday, followed by a four-game series against University of Missouri in Fort Myers, Florida.
