Men UConn v. Rutgers at Elliot Ballpark (Friday 3/24/23 ->Doubleheader beginning @1:05p & 5:45p and Sunday 3/25/23 @1:05p). Games on UConn+ and Mixlr

[dbmill]

Top 9th, first 2 batters reach base on singles. Willis gets 2 strikeouts, then gives up a 2 out single to bring in a run to make it 6-5 UConn, then gives up a walk to load the bases. Willis finally gets the final out, Willis gets the save, and UConn gets the 6-5 win to take the doubleheader and the series.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[uconnbaseball]

Rutgers is the best team we've played this year. They are pretty bad defensively much like some of the other teams we've seen, but they have good arms and a tremendous singles offense that takes advantage of what the opponent gives them.

They lack home run power so forcing them to string single after single by avoiding walks and errors has been key for UConn thus far.

Not sure if Sears will get many more weekend starts if Sully and Quigley pitch the way they have recently.

 

[UConnRock]

A quick +8 in the “live RPI”

 

[Skiblets]

Chewing gum and duct tape sweep.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[MarkyMark]

Long day at Elliott but an important sweep of the doubleheader. My thoughts:
Game 1

• Both dugouts were alive. Lots of energy Big 10 vs Big East
• Cookie and Kirby both battled despite being banged around. Chewed innings. Showed heart.
• Daniels impacted the game with his bat, glove, and legs. Penders has an interesting decision(s) to make when Terrence Cleveland returns from the hand injury.
• Freeberger struggled all day only to bounce back and walk it off. Sign of a good hitter.
• Gutty win as they had opportunities they missed and found a way.

Game 2

• It was cold hence both sides were quieter. Understandable.
• Sears is an enigma to me. I like his velocity and the jump on the fastball. He gets a lot of swings and misses but something is off. Was thinking about it on the ride home. Everything he throws is 90+. Doesn't have anything offspeed. Perhaps that's a possible reason for the inconsistency. I don't know.
• Hyde made a great play at the plate in the 7th I believe to cut down a runner. Outstanding.
• Ellisen was excellent. Threw strikes and went after hitters. Was a difference maker.
• In contrast to Game 1 made the most of the opportunities offensively. Efficient.

Great day. Let's get the sweep Sunday.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Long day at Elliott but an important sweep of the doubleheader. My thoughts:
Game 1

• Both dugouts were alive. Lots of energy Big 10 vs Big East
• Cookie and Kirby both battled despite being banged around. Chewed innings. Showed heart.
• Daniels impacted the game with his bat, glove, and legs. Penders has an interesting decision(s) to make when Terrence Cleveland returns from the hand injury.
• Freeberger struggled all day only to bounce back and walk it off. Sign of a good hitter.
• Gutty win as they had opportunities they missed and found a way.

Game 2

• It was cold hence both sides were quieter. Understandable.
• Sears is an enigma to me. I like his velocity and the jump on the fastball. He gets a lot of swings and misses but something is off. Was thinking about it on the ride home. Everything he throws is 90+. Doesn't have anything offspeed. Perhaps that's a possible reason for the inconsistency. I don't know.
• Hyde made a great play at the plate in the 7th I believe to cut down a runner. Outstanding.
• Ellisen was excellent. Threw strikes and went after hitters. Was a difference maker.
• In contrast to Game 1 made the most of the opportunities offensively. Efficient.

Great day. Let's get the sweep Sunday.

Regarding Sears, is he max effort on every pitch guy? That could be part of the strike throwing inefficiency. I haven't seen him in person yet.

 

[MarkyMark]

Regarding Sears, is he max effort on every pitch guy? That could be part of the strike throwing inefficiency. I haven't seen him in person yet.

I would lean towards no or should I say no better/worse than other starters I've seen this year. I've seen Sears 2x live (the other time being the rainout at Berkeley). Seems Penders has a quicker hook with him than say Cookie who he let go into the 6th. He let Cookie fight through it today. Sears that doesn't happen. Perhaps that's trust.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[HCCForever]

Long day at Elliott but an important sweep of the doubleheader. My thoughts:
Game 1

• Both dugouts were alive. Lots of energy Big 10 vs Big East
• Cookie and Kirby both battled despite being banged around. Chewed innings. Showed heart.
• Daniels impacted the game with his bat, glove, and legs. Penders has an interesting decision(s) to make when Terrence Cleveland returns from the hand injury.
• Freeberger struggled all day only to bounce back and walk it off. Sign of a good hitter.
• Gutty win as they had opportunities they missed and found a way.

Game 2

• It was cold hence both sides were quieter. Understandable.
• Sears is an enigma to me. I like his velocity and the jump on the fastball. He gets a lot of swings and misses but something is off. Was thinking about it on the ride home. Everything he throws is 90+. Doesn't have anything offspeed. Perhaps that's a possible reason for the inconsistency. I don't know.
• Hyde made a great play at the plate in the 7th I believe to cut down a runner. Outstanding.
• Ellisen was excellent. Threw strikes and went after hitters. Was a difference maker.
• In contrast to Game 1 made the most of the opportunities offensively. Efficient.

Great day. Let's get the sweep Sunday.

Good analysis. I had to think for a minute on Terrence Cleveland.

 

[huskymedic]

HookC Sweeps Doubleheader, Clinches Series vs. Rutgers - University of Connecticut Athletics

STORRS, Conn. - The UConn baseball team (15-5) won a pair of one-run games to sweep a doubleheader and clinch a series win against Rutgers on Friday at Elliot Ballpark.

uconnhuskies.com

Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score

-> Game Notes

• The Huskies swept their first doubleheader of the season on Friday. The Huskies have swept the last three regular season series that they have played.
  
  
• UConn is 3-0 at Elliot Ballpark this season. Overall, UConn is 37-5 all-time at The Doug.The Huskies have won all 10 series they have played at Elliot.
  
  
• Ryan Daniels set a new career-high with five runs batted in during game one.
  
  
• UConn was out hit 33-18 but managed to sweep the doubleheader.
  
  
• The Huskies have swept the last three doubleheaders they have played against the Scarlet Knights in Storrs (2023, 2012, 2010).
  
  
• UConn is 2-0 in extra innings this season.
  
  
• UConn has won four games this season in which they have trailed in the 5th inning or later. They had three wins last year in that scenario. <-

 

[Steve UConn72]

I don't pretend to understand how RPI (and other metrics) are figured, but on paper, Rutgers doesn't look all that intimidating, despite their 17 ranking. Their 12 wins are against Campbell (one win in 3 game series), George Mason, St. Joes (not sure which one), Wagner, Georgia Southern (swept a 3 game series against a .500 club), Kennesaw St., Mercer (two of three), Rider and Lafayette. Losses are to Campbell (2), Ball State, BC, UNC-Greensboro (swept in 3 game series; another .500 club) and Mercer. Doesn't really compare to our schedule, I don't think. Team BA is .298. Opposing BA is only .238, despite Rutgers' team ERA of 5.05. Their starters appear to be averaging less than 5IP per start. One thing to watch - They have hit 30 batters in 20 games, and our guys have been hit 33 times in 18 games. Plus Rutgers pitching is averaging over 5 walks per 9 innings. Our guys' control has gotten better recently, but we're still just south of 5 freebies per nine. Either way, should be a few "free 90's" on tap.

Some musings on my pre-game musings from yesterday. Perhaps yesterday was the Rutgers season (to date) in microcosm. Their pitching held our HITTING pretty much in check (18/68 + .265), but gave away 14 walks and hit four more batters (18 "free 90's), compared to 7 walks for Husky pitchers. They hit the heck out of the ball (33/86 = .384), but still lost the twin bill to drop to .500.

With these March (and probably early April games) maybe UConn should bring back the warming hut they had in the '60's and '70's when the hockey team played outdoors. Those were some cold nights.

 

[huskymedic]

-> Connecticut – While Rutgers is still trying to figure out how to mesh all its pieces, the UConn program just continues to plow forward year after year plugging holes with new guys, often either homegrown players from the state of Connecticut or transfers from smaller schools that the general public may have never heard of. This year’s squad features contributing newcomers from Division III schools Wheaton College, Eastern Connecticut State and Rhode Island College as well as graduate transfers from Brown, Hartford and UNC-Asheville.

Every year it seems new players arrive and are quickly indoctrinated into UConn’s blue-collar mentality and “HookC” culture. Grit and toughness are requirements in Storrs. It’s been that way since Penders took over as head coach in 2004 and long before then when he was a player for the program just as his father and uncle once were too. Like almost all Northeast teams, UConn spends the first month almost exclusively playing on the road and comes out of the first third of the season battle tested and resilient, which they showed again Friday.

When they finally do get to play at home, Penders wants it to be a place where other teams dread going because of how comfortable the Huskies are there and how they always seem to find a way to win.

“You want [the newcomers] to feel that. That kind of thing is to be expected here,” Penders said. “We play our best here. We want to be ready to go here. This is home. This should be comfortable. It should be, ‘Alright, we’re going to do it. We’re going to find a way.’ There should be a little bit extra confidence at home. Hopefully, this is a good confidence builder.” <-

 

[MarkyMark]

Some musings on my pre-game musings from yesterday. Perhaps yesterday was the Rutgers season (to date) in microcosm. Their pitching held our HITTING pretty much in check (18/68 + .265), but gave away 14 walks and hit four more batters (18 "free 90's), compared to 7 walks for Husky pitchers. They hit the heck out of the ball (33/86 = .384), but still lost the twin bill to drop to .500.

With these March (and probably early April games) maybe UConn should bring back the warming hut they had in the '60's and '70's when the hockey team played outdoors. Those were some cold nights.

They had the heat lamps on at the tables down the left field line but I hear ya it was cold haha.
Just looked at the boxscores and a couple of thoughts:
1) Devin Kirby is a junkyard dog and I mean that as huge compliment. He can be in a foxhole with me any day of the week. 10H in 3.1 with 81 NP and it rolls off him like water off a duck's back. He just keeps grinding. A winner.
2) They appear to have dodged a bullet with Huber getting hit in the hand/wrist in game 2 . Heard the contact on that but he stayed in the game. Appears ok.
3) 2-game sample size but Rutgers loves to bunt (and for base hits). They have a verbal # sign the asst. bench coach gives the hitter while in the box that tells the hitter to bunt for a base hit. I won't give out the # but I'm sure uconn picked up on it.
4) Uconn had the type of at-basts that I started to expect them to have. Those grinding ABs working deep into counts laying off borderline pitches. Things starting to come together offensively with further upside available.
5) Would love to get the next 2 with Rutgers/BC then the schedule eases up until St. Johns. Chance to go on a nice run here.

 

[dbmill]

Jack Sullivan is scheduled to get the start in the game tomorrow. It will be interesting to see who comes out of the bullpen tomorrow after Sullivan is done for the day. The only relief pitcher who is probably not available tomorrow is Devin Kirby. I'm especially interested to see what happens with Stephen Quigley and Garrett Coe. I would expect at least one of them to get some mound time tomorrow. If either S. Quigley or Coe don't pitch tomorrow, then I would expect one of them will get the start against Boston College on Tuesday. S. Quigley seems like he would be effective either as a starter or coming out of the bullpen, so on that basis he could be a guy who gets midweek starts, as Coach Penders has shown in the past that he will use some midweek starters out of the bullpen during weekend series. Also it would not surprise me if Tom Ellisen gets the start against Hartford on Wednesday after his fine mound performance on Friday. I suspect at some point in the future (possibly in upcoming seasons) that he could end up in the weekend starting rotation.

I also am not about to say that the current weekend starting rotation is set in stone. Just have to see how guys continue to perform.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[scotty0330]

I’ll be there. Sun is out, temps are decent (for March) hopefully a win is in the air.

 

[MarkyMark]

Jack Sullivan is scheduled to get the start in the game tomorrow. It will be interesting to see who comes out of the bullpen tomorrow after Sullivan is done for the day. The only relief pitcher who is probably not available tomorrow is Devin Kirby. I'm especially interested to see what happens with Stephen Quigley and Garrett Coe. I would expect at least one of them to get some mound time tomorrow. If either S. Quigley or Coe don't pitch tomorrow, then I would expect one of them will get the start against Boston College on Tuesday. S. Quigley seems like he would be effective either as a starter or coming out of the bullpen, so on that basis he could be a guy who gets midweek starts, as Coach Penders has shown in the past that he will use some midweek starters out of the bullpen during weekend series. Also it would not surprise me if Tom Ellisen gets the start against Hartford on Wednesday after his fine mound performance on Friday. I suspect at some point in the future (possibly in upcoming seasons) that he could end up in the weekend starting rotation.

I also am not about to say that the current weekend starting rotation is set in stone. Just have to see how guys continue to perform.

Will be watching from home today but will be at The Doug on Tuesday for the biggest game of the year so far (especially for the RPI disciples). I'm anxious to see BC (17-4 looking to sweep NC State today and ranked in all major polls). Also looking forward to seeing Honeyman who is a projected 1st round pick in the upcoming draft. First things first let's get today.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

Last season it was David Smith who moved to the bottom of the lineup for a time before he broke out of his early season slump. This season Korey Morton gets the treatment. Also probably an effort to get Morton's speed on base before the big bats in the first half of the UConn batting order.

Luke Broadhurst getting the day off, Maddix Dalena gets the start at D.H. Wondering if there is a possibility that Freeberger might get some time on the mound towards the end of the game, and that Broadhurst would take over at 3B should that happen. From listening to Chris Jones, it sounds like the coaching staff loves Freeberger's defensive play at 3B, and I suppose that might be keeping Freeberger from getting a bit more time on the mound during games.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[uconnbaseball]

Rutgers is throwing a kid that has been in trouble all year with a high walk%, but has wiggled his way out of trouble almost every start. Hopefully the dam breaks today and Sully continues to throw strikes & doesn't get rattled by random singles.

 

[dbmill]

Top 1st, leadoff homer for Rutgers, 1-0.