Dalena blast the difference in UConn’s 6-5 win over Villanova

Still, the Huskies already had two outs and were about to get a chance at third of the inning. On a 2-1 count, Mark Gialluisi was early on a breaking ball and got under it, popping it up to right field.

With the ball trailing into no man’s land, second baseman Peyton Jemison ranged deep to his left and looked to have a chance at coming down with it. Though right fielder Nater Wachter seemed to have a beat on it, it was ultimately Jemison’s glove which the ball came down on. Unfortunately for the Huskies, it didn’t stay there.

Bouncing in and out of Jemison’s glove, the error cost the Huskies two unearned runs and shrunk their lead to just a run before Dalena could get both runs back.

Gialluisi made it all the way to third before Hale escaped another jam with a nine-pitch strike out of John Freitag.

The Huskies have now allowed multiple unearned runs in back-to-back games after surrendering five against Northeastern on Tuesday.

West himself was largely phenomenal over the course of the evening and was instrumental in giving the Huskies the cushion to withstand the late multi-run mistake. Setting the tone by striking out the first four Wildcats batters he faced, the junior didn’t give up a run over six innings pitched and didn’t allow a batter to take more than one base in any single at bat (seven singles and one walk).

Though he left a pair on when he departed with just one out in the seventh, Hale cleaned up the left-hander’s mess with ease.

West also reached a personal milestone, as his first strikeout of the night marked 100 on the season. With fellow weekend starter Cayden Suchy reaching the mark last weekend, the duo became just the second pair of Huskies to reach 100 strikeouts in the same season, according to the UConn Baseball website. Pat Gallagher (110) and Austin Peterson (147) were the first pair in the 2022 season.

With seven strikeouts total, West passed Suchy for the Big East lead with 106 total to Suchy’s 101, though Suchy will get a chance to retake the lead on Saturday provided that he makes his scheduled start.

Despite the Wildcats cutting the lead to one multiple times, the Huskies picked up an early lead in the first inning and never looked back.

Marshall was responsible for the Huskies’ first three RBIs of the game on a pair of productive outs and a base hit. After a sac fly in the first and run-scoring ground out to short in the third, Marshall extended his on-base streak to 43 games in the fifth inning with a slow roller to the right side that snuck past second baseman Brayden Leonard and found outfield grass.

Dalena’s first RBI of the game gave the Huskies a 4-0 lead in the fifth, as a groundout to first base scored Cam Righi.

Righi, playing in his first contest since the East Tennessee State University series, went 3 for 4 at the plate with a trio of singles.

Marshall and Dalena were collectively responsible for all six of the Huskies’ RBIs.

Anthony Belisario also had three hits at the plate with a double, while Rob Rispoli and Marshall also provided a two-bagger each.

With Xavier (25-29, 13-7 Big East) falling to Creighton (29-22, 13-6 Big East) 5-2 in their series opener on Thursday and St. John’s (27-23, 13-5 Big East) taking an upset 7-3 loss to Butler, the Huskies are now in sole possession of first place in the Big East for the first time this season.

UConn can clinch at least a piece of the conference regular season title with a win on Friday and a St. John’s or Creighton loss. They can also win the Big East outright with a win and losses by St. John’s and Creighton. They’ll get that chance at 6:05 p.m. at Elliot Ballpark in game two against Villanova.

Husky fans can stream the game live on ESPN+.