The University of Connecticut baseball team announced on May 13 that it will finish its regular season with a three-game series against Villanova at Elliot Ballpark, starting Thursday, May 14 at 6:05 p.m. The series continues Friday at the same time and concludes with Senior Day on Saturday, May 16 at 1:05 p.m.
This final series holds significant importance as UConn is currently in a three-way tie for first place in the BIG EAST standings alongside St. John’s and Xavier. If UConn wins all three games in the upcoming series, it will secure at least a share of its sixth consecutive BIG EAST regular season title. The team has already qualified for the four-team BIG EAST Championship and could finish anywhere from the No. 1 to No. 4 seed depending on this weekend’s results.
UConn enters the matchup after sweeping Seton Hall on the road and has won seven straight conference games, taking ten out of its last thirteen overall contests. Pitcher Charlie West is just one strikeout away from reaching the milestone of joining teammate Cayden Suchy as only the second pair in program history to each record over one hundred strikeouts in a single season.
First baseman Jackson Marshall leads UConn’s offense entering this weekend, ranking tied for eleventh nationally with seventy-nine hits. Marshall holds a .382 batting average along with eighteen doubles, fourteen home runs, and fifty-six runs batted in.
For Villanova, Collin Quintano leads his team offensively with a .316 average, nine home runs, and forty runs batted in. Jack Kelley anchors their pitching staff with fourteen starts and sixty-six innings pitched this year.
The outcome of this weekend’s games will determine both teams’ positions heading into postseason play.
