For the first time in the history of Elliot Ballpark, the UConn Huskies find themselves on the wrong side of a troubling trend. After never losing a home weekend series in their first five seasons at the ballpark, the Huskies (26-22) have now dropped two straight weekend homestands, following a 6-1 loss to East Tennessee State University (29-15) on Saturday afternoon.

The skid began two weeks ago when the team fell to Big East rival St. John's in their last home series. Returning to Storrs, the Huskies hoped to bounce back against the Buccaneers, but early miscues made that a tall order for starter Cayden Suchy.

Suchy, the team's ace, cruised through a clean first inning before running into trouble in the second. ETSU's Jamie Palmese led off with a single but was thrown out attempting to steal second. However, a walk and another single quickly put two more runners on base. What could have been a routine inning turned disastrous when shortstop Rob Rispoli, trying to catch Joey Little off first base, fired a low throw that bounced off Little and rolled toward the ETSU dugout, allowing Tyler Fetterman to score from first. The unearned run put the Buccaneers on the board first.

The Bucs continued to find loud contact off Suchy in the third inning. After a mound visit from coach Joshua McDonald, Suchy's next pitch was drilled off the top of the right-center wall by Tristan Curless, scoring Nate Conner after his earlier double. Suddenly, the Huskies were staring at a 2-0 deficit.

But Suchy, a frontrunner for Big East Pitcher of the Year, showed exactly why he deserves the honor. The left-hander settled in and delivered his fifth quality start in his last six outings, allowing just two earned runs over seven innings on 104 pitches. With seven strikeouts on the day, the sophomore now needs just two more punchouts to become the first Husky to reach that milestone this season. Despite the loss, Suchy's performance was a bright spot in an otherwise frustrating afternoon for UConn.