Jim Penders earns 800th career win with 4-3 victory over ETSU

The ETSU Buccaneers take on the UConn Huskies in a college softball game at Elliot Ballpark in Storrs, CT on Sunday, May 3, 2026. | Ian Bethune - The UConn Blog UConn head coach Jim Penders earned his 800th career win as UConn (27-22) salvaged its series against East Tennessee State University (29-16) with a 4-3 win on Sunday at Elliot Ballpark. For the second day in a row, Jackson Marshall came up to the plate with the Huskies trailing and the bases juiced.

This time, he didn’t miss his pitch. The star first baseman smacked a sixth inning grand slam to left field to overcome a two-run deficit with one swing. The slam was Marshall’s second of the season and kept UConn from being swept at home for the first time in the history of Elliot Ballpark.

That game-changing long ball was set up after the Huskies got three straight runners on against starter Cooper Jones to open the inning. Chase Taylor led off the inning with a walk before Chris Cancel singled into left on the first pitch of his at bat. Cam Righi picked up hard-earned full count walk after getting ahead 3-0 loaded the bases.

The rough start of the inning led to Thomas Costarelli entering the game in relief for ETSU. Marshall greeted him by sending his first pitch over the wall. Cody Carwile eventually had to come in to stop the bleeding as the Bucs were forced to burn two bullpen arms in the same inning.