HookC Silences No. 12 Duke, 4-1, in Norman Regional Opener
NORMAN, Okla. - The UConn baseball team (33-23) advanced to the NCAA Norman Regional winner's bracket with a 4-1 victory against No. 12 Duke (39-19) on Friday afternoon at Dale Mitchell Field.
Korey Morton led the way for the UConn offense with a 3-3 day at the plate that featured an RBI double in the first to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
After an up and down first inning for UConn starter Ian Cooke that led to a Duke run, the New Milford, Conn. native settled into the ballgame and held a potent Duke offense to just one run over 5.2 innings of work. The RHP fired a pair of 1-2-3 frames in the second and third and maneuvered around a pair of jams in the fourth and fifth.
UConn broke the tie in the sixth inning after back-to-back walks to Morton and Bryan Padilla and an errant pickoff throw placed runners at the corners with no outs. After a strikeout and sacrifice bunt made it second and third with two out, team captain Ryan Hyde lined a two-run, two-out single to center to make it 3-1 Huskies.
Braden Quinn came out of the pen to record his fourth save of the season with 3.1 shutout innings with four scattered hits, zero walks and five strikeouts.
Freshman Tyler Minick provided insurance in the ninth with a solo homer over the batter's eye in center to push the lead to 4-1. It is the third-straight postseason game that Minick has homered in.
Next up, the Huskies await an opponent for its winner's bracket game on Saturday, June 1 at 8:06 p.m. CT / 9:06 p.m. ET. It will be either top-seeded Oklahoma or fourth-seeded Oral Roberts.
Game Notes
- Korey Morton recorded three hits and drew a walk in his 12th career NCAA Tournament game. Morton now has 192 career hits in 177 career games.
- UConn is 19-20 in the NCAA Tournament under 21st year head coach Jim Penders and have won at least a game in all 10 tournaments they have played in.
- The Huskies are now 92-81 against Power-5 Conference opponents since 2010 and move to 6-9 during the 2024 season.
- Since 2010, UConn is 6-3 against ACC opponents in the NCAA Tournament with wins against Duke, Wake Forest (2022), Georgia Tech (2016), Virginia Tech (2013) and Clemson (2011).