The UConn baseball team jumped to a seven-run lead in the second inning and then held on to beat Georgia Tech 7-6 Friday in the Huskies' opening NCAA Tournament game in Gainesville, Fla.



Freshman Tim Cate, the AAC rookie pitcher of the year from Manchester, proved worthy of getting the call to start the opener. He retired the first nine and shut out the No. 2-seeded Yellow Jackets until Matt Gonzalez's two-out double in the sixth.



"The defense was playing well behind me too, so it made it a lot easier for me to just go out and do what I did," Cate said.



Cate (5-1) went six innings and allowed two runs on three hits. He came out to start the seventh but a leadoff single to Tristin English resulted in a quick hook by coach Jim Penders, who called on Randy Polonia. Tech scored its second run – charged to Cate – when English advanced to third and scored on a sacrifice fly.



"I thought Tim Cate did an unbelievable job," Penders said. "It's unbelievable to some folks but not unbelievable to him, and that's the whole key. He's got a lot of confidence in himself for an 18-year-old. We believed in him today. His fastball location was excellent, and his breaking ball was very good. I told him earlier that I don't want to take him out of that game. That's where a lot of maturity comes in. He's going to learn to get stronger and better and do the work in between starts to stay in that game next year so that I don't have to take him out. I felt like a couple balls were up. He was sensational. The offense in the second inning really showed up. I thought our hitters did an excellent job — three guys in a row with two-out RBI. I would've liked to have seen some more of that during the rest of the game. It would've made it a little bit easier. We have a ton of respect for Georgia Tech and especially their offense. They're one of the best offensive clubs we've faced. We expected them to make a run. I hope our players didn't, but I knew they probably had a run in them where we needed to make sure we created some separation, and we had just enough separation. I'm proud to see Pat Ruotolo out there and finishing it up."



The UConn bullpen struggled to bring the win home for the third-seeded Huskies as three relievers allowed four runs over the final three innings. Closer Pat Ruotolo got the final six outs for his 12th save.



The UConn offense got every run it needed in sending 11 men to plate in the second inning, knocking out starter Zac Ryan. Tyler Gnesda and Willy Yahn each had two-run singles and Bobby Melley, Joe DeRoche-Duffin and Aaron Hill added run-scoring doubles to back Cate's strong start.



But the UConn offense took the rest of the game off as Georgia Tech relievers Ben Parr, Jake Lee and Matthew Gorst kept the Yellow Jackets in the game. Lee retired 12 straight at one point.



Tech got two back in the eighth and two in the ninth and had the tying run on base before Ruotolo got Kel Johnson to end the game.



UConn (38-23) faces the winner of the game between top-seeded host Florida and No. 4 Bethune-Cookman Saturday at 6 p.m. Tech (36-24) faces the loser. The win guarantees that the Huskies advance at least until Sunday.The UConn baseball team jumped to a seven-run lead in the second inning and then held on to beat Georgia Tech 7-6 Friday in the Huskies' opening NCAA Tournament game in Gainesville, Fla.



Freshman Tim Cate, the AAC rookie pitcher of the year from Manchester, proved worthy of getting the call to start the opener. He retired the first nine and shut out the No. 2-seeded Yellow Jackets until Matt Gonzalez's two-out double in the sixth.



"The defense was playing well behind me too, so it made it a lot easier for me to just go out and do what I did," Cate said.



Cate (5-1) went six innings and allowed two runs on three hits. He came out to start the seventh but a leadoff single to Tristin English resulted in a quick hook by coach Jim Penders, who called on Randy Polonia. Tech scored its second run – charged to Cate – when English advanced to third and scored on a sacrifice fly.



"I thought Tim Cate did an unbelievable job," Penders said. "It's unbelievable to some folks but not unbelievable to him, and that's the whole key. He's got a lot of confidence in himself for an 18-year-old. We believed in him today. His fastball location was excellent, and his breaking ball was very good. I told him earlier that I don't want to take him out of that game. That's where a lot of maturity comes in. He's going to learn to get stronger and better and do the work in between starts to stay in that game next year so that I don't have to take him out. I felt like a couple balls were up. He was sensational. The offense in the second inning really showed up. I thought our hitters did an excellent job — three guys in a row with two-out RBI. I would've liked to have seen some more of that during the rest of the game. It would've made it a little bit easier. We have a ton of respect for Georgia Tech and especially their offense. They're one of the best offensive clubs we've faced. We expected them to make a run. I hope our players didn't, but I knew they probably had a run in them where we needed to make sure we created some separation, and we had just enough separation. I'm proud to see Pat Ruotolo out there and finishing it up."



The UConn bullpen struggled to bring the win home for the third-seeded Huskies as three relievers allowed four runs over the final three innings. Closer Pat Ruotolo got the final six outs for his 12th save.



The UConn offense got every run it needed in sending 11 men to plate in the second inning, knocking out starter Zac Ryan. Tyler Gnesda and Willy Yahn each had two-run singles and Bobby Melley, Joe DeRoche-Duffin and Aaron Hill added run-scoring doubles to back Cate's strong start.



But the UConn offense took the rest of the game off as Georgia Tech relievers Ben Parr, Jake Lee and Matthew Gorst kept the Yellow Jackets in the game. Lee retired 12 straight at one point.



Tech got two back in the eighth and two in the ninth and had the tying run on base before Ruotolo got Kel Johnson to end the game.



UConn (38-23) faces the winner of the game between top-seeded host Florida and No. 4 Bethune-Cookman Saturday at 6 p.m. Tech (36-24) faces the loser. The win guarantees that the Huskies advance at least until Sunday.