NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Ryan Hyde broke a tie with a two-run single in the sixth inning to help UConn beat Duke 4-1 on Friday in each team’s opening game of the Division I baseball tournament.
Freshman Tyler Minick hit a solo home run in the ninth to give the Huskies some breathing room.
With runners on second and third and two outs, Hyde, a redshirt junior catcher from Berlin, Connecticut, made the play of the game by going the opposite way on the first pitch he saw from Blue Devils reliever Gabriel Nard. That hit to right-center field past the out-stretched glove of second baseman Zac Morris drove in Morton and Padilla.
UConn starter Ian Cooke, the Big East pitcher of the year, allowed one run on four hits, struck out four and walked two in 5 2/3 innings to get the win. Braden Quinn threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings to finish things off.
Duke’s Andrew Healy gave up one run on four hits in four innings before giving way to the bullpen. Ryan Higgins, after a flawless fifth, opened the sixth by walking Morton and Padilla and, as a result, was saddled with the loss as that inning turned the tide in the Huskies’ favor.
This was the first meeting between the teams since 1988.
On Saturday, UConn will face the winner of host and regional top seed Oklahoma versus Oral Roberts. ACC Tournament champion Duke plays the OU-ORU loser in an elimination game.
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