Men UConn Baseball @ 2023 NCAA Tournament’s Gainesville Regional (6/2>6/5). Elimination Sunday 6/4/23 v. Florida Gators @Noon on SEC Network

[HCCForever]

UConn is just not that deep especially with pitching. The Florida pitcher in the second game made his second start of the season against Texas Tech and went 7 innings.

 

[scotty0330]

I don’t disagree but the good news Penders and staff are keenly aware of shortcomings. The talent does have to be upgraded in order to compete for Omaha. They more than any of us know this and will work like hell to try and get future huskies that have more talent without sacrificing the grit and toughness that have become a hallmark of his program.

 

[MarkyMark]

Offense scored 4 runs in 18 innings against power conference pitching. That wouldn’t have gotten it done last year, with much better pitching and less offense through the NCAA. Offense really let us down the last two weekends in the postseason.

That having been said, this team had an amazing season given its personnel. I didn’t think they’d be better in RPI this year than last year, but what we did was consistently score enough to win against good but not great opposition. Unfortunately, when the opposition got tougher, unlike last year we didn’t have the pitching to get it done, but, as I said, we didn’t hit well enough last weekend or this weekend to get it done even if our pitching was healthy.

But we continue to cement ourselves as the best baseball program in the Northeast year in and year out. On to next year.

They were overmatched today at the plate and that’s not a cut on the team. The starter will be a top 10-15 pick in this month‘s draft. Was consistently hitting 96-97 with a slider that had big time late movement and will make him a lot of money very soon. Very nasty pitch that is so firm and tight you just can’t lay off it. The splitter is filthy as well. His curve ball appeared to be his weakest pitch (and it wasn't bad). He has a true 4 pitch arsenal. The second time around the order they started to have better ABs and I became more optimistic. But the inning with first/second nobody out and he struck out the side (it was 5-1) that was UConn’s last gasp. It’s a different level of pitching that they don’t see all year and he’s a guy who bears down when he’s facing trouble (he gets better). At present I thought Korey and Huber were swinging the best bats In the lineup. Smitty would be next with Dom. Rest were struggling. Still really havent reflected on the year yet I’ll do that when retuning home. Obviously nothing to be ashamed that team has 4 guys who can easily be playing in the big leagues at some point not just scuffling in the minors. Langford/Rivera went 0-7 and they still had another guy to blow the game open. Tough lineup to get through with the free 90s. On to ‘24.

 

[UConnRock]

Pitching held up admirably given the injuries and illness. As others have said, the bats were overmatched against to P5 arms. Texas Tech game was very winnable, but the key hit just didn’t happen.

Will be an interesting off season as Penders dips back into the portal to fill needs. Need Cooke to get back to freshman form and some young arms to develop over the summer. Draft, transfers and working thru COVID eligibility and who Penders wants to stay is an added element.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[MarkyMark]

Pitching held up admirably given the injuries and illness. As others have said, the bats were overmatched against to P5 arms. Texas Tech game was very winnable, but the key hit just didn’t happen.

Will be an interesting off season as Penders dips back into the portal to fill needs. Need Cooke to get back to freshman form and some young arms to develop over the summer. Draft, transfers and working thru COVID eligibility and who Penders wants to stay is an added element.

Well said UconnRock. Yesterday they faced the gold standard. Looking at the glass half full the experience was invaluable for a guy like Daniels for a few reasons: 1) he now knows what the creme de la creme is for D1 pitching. He’s faced it, it won’t get much harder, 2) he actually got a base hit off of Waldrep he can take that result away that he can hit probable big league pitching and 3) my hunch is this will drive him to work his tail off this off season to want to be great. Notice he was geared up for the hard stuff and would wave gingerly through the strike zone…..he’s at least recognizing the slider/splitter but too late. Other guys (won’t name names) full swinging over that stuff they aren’t even seeing it. So another positive takeaway for him. Has a chance to be really good.…true freshman and he’s playing with some guys who are 24-25…massive difference in demeanor, body, experience, etc

Re: SS I think Bry needs to have a heart to heart exit meeting with Penders (might have happened already) to find out where he stands. My hunch is he’s provisionally lost the job to Tammaro who looked decent over there in the short stint. You don’t want to run from competition but you also don’t want to be sitting for all of ‘24 buried on the bench. I like Bry but his defense isn’t good enough to tolerate a BA in the .260s. It’s not an Omar Vizquel situation. Not sure what they have coming in but would like to see them recruit a more power driven HS SS offensively for the future.

 

[dbmill]

While you can never rule out a position player newcomer(s) to the team moving into a starting position and getting significant playing time, it would not surprise me to see a goodly portion of the starting lineup for next season to be composed of players who were on the UConn baseball roster this spring season. The basic lineup appears to be serviceable for next season, but we will see about possible newcomers who may provide a challenge to playing time.

The big question for UConn baseball for next season rests on the improvement of the the quality and the depth of the pitching staff. Willis and Kirby have used up their eligibility, and Chris Jones has been saying during game broadcasts that Fogell could end up being selected in the MLB draft. In addition to incoming freshmen, it will be especially interesting to see what pitching UConn baseball gets out of the transfer portal.

As has been mentioned before, except for this last season, starting pitching has long been a big strength to UConn baseball, as well as having some excellent relievers.

Starting pitchers Ian Cooke (especially during his freshman season), Stephen Quigley, and Andrew Sears all have shown solid flashes during their time at UConn, but they all now need to show more consistency to stick in the weekend starting rotation next season. Also would help if Cooke's pitching has recovered from his various injuries that he had over the past year. You can certainly add Jack Sullivan and Tom Ellisen to this list as well to potential starters needing to show more consistency. Also have to hope a number of the pitchers who came out of the bullpen show improvement for next season as well.

 

[mike012]

Probably not the regional we wanted to be in. Seeing how Fl looked these last 3 games.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Hookknows]

Congratulations Korey Morton! Well deserved…….