Billy Ferriter and Dan Feehan had heard it all heading into the Big East Championship. Their University of Connecticut baseball team had no shot at picking up one win in the tournament, especially opening up against top-seeded Louisville, which was ranked 10th nationally.

They knew different. Both Nashua High School South graduates had a confidence that they say the entire team was gaining. When the eighth-seeded Huskies opened the tournament with an extra-inning win over the Cardinals, all the doubters seemed to buy in as well.

All it took was one perfect swing from Ferriter to get the ball rolling on reserving tickets to Blacksburg, Va. and a spot in the 2013 NCAA Baseball Championship Regionals. UConn headed south Wednesday and opens play at 5:30 p.m. (ESPN3, WTIC.com) on Friday against host Virginia Tech.

The UConn captain and center fielder came through in the clutch all tournament. It started in that first game when Ferriter singled in the winning run in the top of the 12th inning as the Huskies beat Louisville 3-2. It jump started an improbable run to the Huskies’ third Big East title in program history (1990, ’94) and third NCAA tournament berth in the past four years.

“We knew going in we had a chance,” said Ferriter, who was named the Jack Kaiser Award winner for Most Outstanding Player in the tourney.

“Over the last couple of weeks we started to come together. Everybody was starting to hit. We were gaining momentum heading into the tournament. I knew going in this was my last Big East tournament and I wanted to win it.”

Ferriter was 4 for 5 in against Louisville, with a run scored and that game-winning RBI as UConn became the first No. 8 seed to knock off the top seed in opening round action since Villanova topped St. John’s in 2008. The firsts didn’t end there.

UConn (34-26) – which had a combined regular season record of 1-11 against the four teams it beat in Clearwater, Fla., to win the championship – became the first eight seed to win the event. Huskies head coach Jim Penders became the first person in Big East baseball history to win the conference tournament as both a player (1994) and head coach (2013).

Trailing 7-0 against the University of South Florida – a team the Huskies had lost to eight out of the last nine meetings – UConn rallied for an 8-7 win.

According to Penders, his team never lost its cool under pressure.

“There was no panic from our dugout,” Penders said. “We were just waiting for something positive to happen on the field.”

Penders got exactly what he was waiting for. That seemed to be the case all week.

The Huskies comeback started in the fifth inning when Bulls’ pitcher Nick Gonzalez walked two batters and hit Tom Verdi with a 1-2 pitch to load the bases with two outs. Ferriter, L.J. Mazzilli and Vinny Siena all followed by driving in and scoring runs to cut the USF lead from seven to one.

That’s when Feehan and the Huskies’ bullpen got to work. Feehan and David Mahoney combined to pitch 3 2/3 innings of relief and hold USF in check until a sacrifice fly by sophomore right fielder Jon Testani tied it in the eighth.

“Everything just started to click,” Feehan said. “We hit great. We pitched great. Guys were attacking the ball more. We needed to be that much more aggressive to pull it out.”

In the ninth, with the game tied at 7-7, designated hitter Stanley Paul reached second on a USF outfield error and then advanced to third on a one-out wild pitch. USF then intentionally walked Ferriter and Mazzilli to load the bases. With freshman third baseman Vinny Siena at the plate, USF pitcher Jordan Strittmatter gave up the winning run on the wild pitch that scored Paul.

A 2-1 win over Rutgers in the semifinals and an 8-1 win over Notre Dame in the title game locked up the Huskies NCAA Championship tournament berth.

“I was the first one in from the bullpen to dogpile,” Feehan said. “It was crazy.”

Ferriter is still trying to fully realize what his Huskies accomplished, but “It sinks in a little more every day,” he said.

DIVISION II BASEBALL

Nashua’s Kevin McGowan was scheduled to take the mound Wednesday in Game 3 of the Division II Baseball Championship tournament for Franklin Pierce University, and it’s a big one.

The Ravens are 1-1 in the double elimination tourney, opening with a 1-0 win over Shippensburg before falling 10-5 to Minnesota State-Mankato.

McGowan already chipped in for one inning of work in the loss to Minnesota State. The Ravens needed six pitchers to finish the game. McGowan tossing one inning of relief, allowing no runs and walking one.

Next up, a start in an elimination game – something he already has experience with this postseason – against Grand Valley State.

LORIN FIELD, BEKAH JACKSON

Plymouth State University women’s lacrosse goalie Lorin Field, of Hollis, and softball shortstop Bekah Jackson, of Nashua, led all of NCAA Division III in statistics categories this spring.

The honors came on the heels of outstanding seasons in 2013 for both student-athletes as well as the Panther women’s lacrosse and softball teams.

Field led the nation in women’s lacrosse save percentage with a mark of 0.569, making 116 saves while allowing just 88 goals. She also ranked 10th in Division III with a 7.30 goals against average. Field is a two-time All-Region selection and Little East Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

Jackson topped all players on all 402 Division III softball teams with 14 triples and a 0.35 triples-per-game average. She also ranked fifth in the nation with a 1.008 slugging percentage, eighth with 1.43 runs scored per game, 10th with a .512 batting average, and 11th with a .574 on-base percentage. Jackson is a two-time First Team All-Little East Conference shortstop who set or tied 11 school records this season.

Field and Jackson were standouts on strong Panthers squads this spring. The PSU women’s lacrosse team finished with a 12-3 overall record after capturing the LEC regular season title with a 6-0 mark, while the softball team wound up with a 25-17 record after finishing second in the conference during the regular season (9-5), its best finish in 10 years.

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