How UConn remained alive in the NCAA Conway Regional hosted by Coastal Carolina

Connecticut warded off elimination in the NCAA Conway Regional on Saturday afternoon with a 10-3 win over LIU Brooklyn at Springs Brooks Stadium.

The Huskies (36-22), ranked 16th in the national RPI and the No. 2 seed in the regional, fell behind 3-0 through three innings before scoring three runs in the top of the fourth inning and adding three in the sixth to take command.

“I was nervous that we weren’t going to see the Huskies down here, because it looked like that at the beginning of the game today and the end of the game yesterday,” said 15-year UConn coach Jim Penders. “And then, Ok, backs are to the wall and we finally saw it. Two outs, never quit, here we go. So at least we can get on the bus feeling good about that. We looked like ourselves from the fourth inning on.”

LIU Brooklyn (31-26), the Northeast Conference tournament champion, was bounced from the double-elimination regional.

UConn will face the loser of Saturday night’s game between Coastal Carolina and Washington in another elimination game at noon Sunday.

After Huskies starter Chase Gardner allowed three runs on three hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings, Tim Cate shut the Blackbirds down, allowing two hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings to improve to 5-4.

Designated hitter Christian Fedko and outfielders John Toppa, Troy Stefanski and Isaac Feldstein had two hits apiece and combined to both knock in and score seven runs.

“If we’re going to stick around and win this thing it has to be the spark, the fourth inning on has to be the spark for us to kind of vault forward here,” Penders said. “You never know what can happen.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2018 at 5:14 PM with the headline "How UConn remained alive in the NCAA Conway Regional hosted by Coastal Carolina."