UConn baseball falls in Big East opener to Xavier, faces Georgetown in elimination game

In the completion of a suspended game, the UConn baseball team dropped its first-round game at the Big East Tournament, losing to Xavier, 3-2, in 11 innings on Thursday afternoon in Mason, Ohio.

The Huskies, the regular-season champ and No.1 seed in the tournament, faced elimination later Thursday against Georgetown in a game scheduled to start at 4 p.m., as Xavier and St. John’s move into the winner’s bracket. To win the tournament and get the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid, UConn would have survive Thursday, then win Friday and twice on Saturday.

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Jared Cushing’s home run in the top of the 11th inning broke the tie and staked Xavier to the victory in a matchup of NCAA “bubble” teams. UConn (33-22) began the day No. 36 in RPI, and Xavier No. 39, so it’s possible that both teams will get at-large bids to the NCAA’s field of 64, but this game dealt a blow to UConn’s hopes to get in without winning the conference tournament. Xavier is 30-25 and rose to 36th, UConn dropped to 40th following the game.

The Musketeers took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on Wednesday night. The Huskies tied it on a two-run homer in the fifth by freshman Tyler Minick. The game was halted by lightning in the top of the sixth and eventually suspended, to be completed Thursday. UConn had a great chance to walk off with a win after Luke Broadhurst tripled to start the bottom of the ninth, but could not get him home. Cushing’s homer came off reliever Braden Quinn, who pitched 3 2/3 innings for the Huskies.