Storrs — Coach Jim Penders often wonders how his UConn baseball team keeps winning in the face of so much adversity.

His coaches joke about needing a bigger smoke machine and a bigger mirror.

But UConn's success is no magic act.

The Huskies simply refuse to let a difficult schedule, injuries, travel-related woes and bad weather derail them.

"They're really playing with great heart and enthusiasm and taking care of each other," Penders said on Sunday. "One guy doesn't get it done, the next guy does. It's fun to be a part of. It's not our most talented group, but so far it's our most together group. So very satisfying from a coach's perspective."

UConn showed its heart once again on Sunday, taking its fifth straight weekend series with a 9-2 win over American Athletic Conference foe Tulane, 9-2, at J.O. Christian Field.

A 42-minute rain delay in the third inning with UConn holding a 4-1 lead couldn't stop the home team's momentum.

The Huskies (25-13-1) embrace the adversity, according to junior John Toppa.

"That's the whole vibe of the team right now, especially with all the injuries that we've had and the lack of home games," Toppa said. "No game is going to be easy. We have to embrace that and go into every game knowing that it's going to be a dogfight and just do everything we can to get a win."

The Huskies played just their seventh game in Storrs this season. They made themselves right at home, never trailing after the first inning.

"This team comes ready to go and we played a complete game today," Penders said.

The Huskies broke a 1-1 tie and seized the lead for good with a three-run second inning. Sophomore Chris Winkel led off with his fourth home run of the season. Freshman Christian Fedko and junior Michael Woodworth followed with singles and eventually scored — one on a throwing error and the other on Toppa's fielder's choice.

UConn finished with 14 hits, receiving big contributions from sophomore Anthony Prato (three hits, one RBI, three stolen bases), Toppa (two hits, two RBI), Winkel (two hits, one RBI), Woodworth (three hits, one RBI) and senior Isaac Feldstein, who belted his team leading 12th home run. Wheeler High school graduate Troy Stefanski singled in his final at-bat to extend his hitting streak to 13 straight games.

"We just tried to stay aggressive out of the gate," Toppa said. "We didn't panic when they scored first."

The output was more than enough for junior Jeff Kersten (2-1), who pitched an efficient 6.2 innings, allowing two runs, six hits and striking out three. He retired 12 batters on ground balls. Reliable reliever P.J. Poulin closed it out with 2.1 scoreless innings.

"Location-wise, everything was working," Kersten said. "I had all three of my pitches working. ... I definitely wanted to go out there and get us going."

Penders had to count on Kersten going deep into the game because his bullpen was shorthanded. He benched reliever Jacob Wallace for being two minutes late to pregame stretching. Injured starter Tim Cate also arrived with Wallace.

The Huskies are told before the season that they're on UConn baseball time now.

"We didn't have a big arm in the back of the bullpen and everybody knew it," Penders said. "Yet everybody steps up. Kersten knows he's got to get a little bit deeper in the game. ... There's definitely a next man up mentality."

It was a good bounce back performance for the Huskies, who lost 7-1 to Tulane Saturday at Dunkin' Donuts Park in Hartford.

They've been tough to beat coming off a loss this season, not dropping consecutive games in just over a month.

"We played a terrible game on a big stage...," Penders said of Saturday's performance. "To come back today and play the way we did, it's very illustrative of the character of our players. I'm really proud of the way that we've played so far.

"Overall, we told them at the beginning of the year that you're going to win a third, you're going to lose a third and it's that middle third that makes a difference. If you win two out of three, you're a championship ball club in baseball."

The Huskies, third in the AAC at 9-6, have three conference series left — at Memphis next weekend, home with Houston (May 11-13) and East Carolina (May 17-19).

g.keefe@theday.com