Men UConn v. Xavier Musketeers @Elliot Ballpark (Fri. 4/5/24 @3:05p, Sat. 4/6/25 @2:05p & Sun. 4/7/24 @11:05) Games on FloSports/Fox Radio FM97.9 & AM1300

[dbmill]

Top 7th, Cooke faces the minimum number of batters with the help of a double play after a 1 out single. 9-0 Xavier.

 

[dbmill]

Bottom 7th, UConn offense goes down in order. 9-0 Xavier.

 

[dbmill]

Top 8th, after a leadoff single followed by a walk, Cooke strikes out the next 3 batters for a scoreless inning. 9-0 Xavier. Cooke now has 9 strikeouts in this game.

Hector Alejandro was warming up in the bullpen that inning, he has not yet pitched in a game this season.

 

[dbmill]

Bottom 8th, UConn finally gets a run with a 1 out solo homer by Dalena. 9-1 Xavier. UConn offense ends up leaving a runner on base.

 

[scotty0330]

Great game by Cooke but it’s the same story with our starters it’s Jekyll and Hyde performance. One day they look the part of a weekend starter then they don’t at all.

 

[dbmill]

Great game by Cooke but it’s the same story with our starters it’s Jekyll and Hyde performance. One day they look the part of a weekend starter then they don’t at all.

Cooke is making an argument to return to the weekend starting rotation, but it should be said that he has had Jekyll and Hyde performances all this season as well.

 

[dbmill]

Top 9th, Hector Alejandro takes the mound to start the inning.

With 1 out, 2 batters reach base on a single and an error by Padilla. Alejandro with a scoreless inning picking up 3 strikeouts. 9-1 Xavier.

 

[huskymedic]

Bottom 8th, UConn finally gets a run with a 1 out solo homer by Dalena. 9-1 Xavier.

 

[dbmill]

Bottom 9th, UConn offense with a scoreless inning after a 1 out walk by Morton. With 2 out, Malcom pinch hits for Garbowski (Xavier has a lefty pitcher on the mound), and drives in a run with a double, 9-2 Xavier. Minick follows with a 2 run homer, 9-4 Xavier. Dalena comes up with his 2nd homer of the game, 9-5 Xavier. After a 2 out walk by Shpur, Xavier makes a pitching change.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Where was this earlier??!?

 

[huskymedic]

I’ll take the lipstick:

 

[dbmill]

Bottom 9th, after Padilla is hit by a pitch, Xavier makes another pitching change.

Xavier gets the final out, and wins 9-5. But at least the UConn offense made some noise.

 

[Omahabound]

Qualifying for the conference tourney might be an issue. Still early for conference play but enough of a sample size to realistically entertain the thought that they can miss the postseason altogether.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[scotty0330]

That’s as softball of an interview you are gonna get. Team goes down 9-0, Cooke pitches with zero pressure and bats wake up when they throw in a waste reliever….

 

[dbmill]

Qualifying for the conference tourney might be an issue. Still early for conference play but enough of a sample size to realistically entertain the thought that they can miss the postseason altogether.

Chris Jones was talking about UConn possibly not making the Big East Tourney during the game broadcast today. As part of that possibility, Chris Jones was talking about Big East baseball being better overall this season, with the Big East being higher in conference RPI this season.

 

[dbmill]

Good to see and hear the return of the postgame interview after it going missing for several games. Just love listening to this stuff.

 

[Omahabound]

That’s as softball of an interview you are gonna get. Team goes down 9-0, Cooke pitches with zero pressure and bats wake up when they throw in a waste reliever….

I can’t agree more with ur point on Cooke and the offense. I’m happy for Cooke, it can’t hurt him having a real solid appearance…that said, it was a 9-0 game with undisciplined Xavier bats looking to tee off. As for the offense, outside of Dalena’s continued improvement and nice 2 hr game, why even mention they plated a few runs. Half glass full is BS it’s wins/losses at this point in the season, let’s not sugarcoat it.

 

[MarkyMark]

Quick notes on yesterday:
1) I wasn't even settled in and it was 1-0. Just watched Penders interview and yes Van Emon got hit hard. And yes Uconn didn't punch back at all. Seemed to accept it. 9th inning way too late to start to get anything going. Assume team confidence level is low. They play that way.
2) Cookie threw very well. However, I discount the outing for 2 reasons: 1) weather - Cookie isn't the easiest guy to face in 45 degree weather he throws hard and heavy and 2) game situation 9-0 (normal for Xavier to let up). That being said they either need to start him or get him in back end of bullpen. He's throwing about as well as he can right now so needs to get out of this long relief / mop-up role. I would expect to see his next appearance as a start.
3) @dbmill - do you have a list of guys who are out of eligibility after this season? If Shpur is on that list they really need to think about playing Kron in CF. He needs to face live D1 non-uconn starting pitching. Scrimmages and hitting machines aren't enough. Shpur is hitting .216. They need to start leaning towards developing the younger player given how the year is playing out.
4) Minick is showing signs of what's possible down the road it's just a bit too early for him. Don't know incoming recruiting situation but he can be a very viable 3B for them in the future. Has power, good glove just needs more seasoning.
5) Dalena also showing what he's capable of but can't go through the long droughts. Needs consistency. Has the avg. up to .231 now after bouncing around in low .100s for weeks.
5) As @Omahabound said even qualifying for BE tourney isn't in the bag. Gotta think Xavier/Creighton will chew up 2 spots, St. Johns looks pretty good for a spot and G'town hot start but jury still out. But that's 4 teams that can elbow Uconn out. Regardless need to start winning BE games obviously.
6) As I stated earlier give how year is unfolding, need to prioritize focusing on younger guys. Minick, Kron. On the mound would like to see Finn and Turner get some work as well. Maybe it's not at that point yet but might be coming soon. Let's see.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Rdkid]

They have to ride out any hot hand they think they have and win league games. Anything can happen in that 4-team tourney. They will churn the roster considerably regardless, as the in-game performance has dropped to date this year considerably.
I know the hitting has been rock-bottom, but the pitching program is really concerning. They have not developed recruited freshman well at all. Krauth, Peterson, Stefanoni, Willis, Fogel, Kirby are all transfers. The only guy I see that made a leap who was a true freshman recently is Gallagher. Nothing wrong with counting on transfers, but what about these 8-10 guys you recruit as freshman each year. More of them blow out their arms than contribute. And the ones that do play can’t command a fastball. Something on how these guys are developed before they get to Storrs is in play, but it is something else. No feel to pitch. And a whole bunch of them just disappear.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[MarkyMark]

They have to ride out any hot hand they think they have and win league games. Anything can happen in that 4-team tourney. They will churn the roster considerably regardless, as the in-game performance has dropped to date this year considerably.
I know the hitting has been rock-bottom, but the pitching program is really concerning. They have not developed recruited freshman well at all. Krauth, Peterson, Stefanoni, Willis, Fogel, Kirby are all transfers. The only guy I see that made a leap who was a true freshman recently is Gallagher. Nothing wrong with counting on transfers, but what about these 8-10 guys you recruit as freshman each year. More of them blow out their arms than contribute. And the ones that do play can’t command a fastball. Something on how these guys are developed before they get to Storrs is in play, but it is something else. No feel to pitch. And a whole bunch of them just disappear.

You raise some good points here:
1) Recruiting - @Omahabound has talked about this at length. My take is they had to adjust their recruiting approach due to: a) Covid eligibility change, b) transfer portal and c) to a much less extent NIL. I'm not going to kill Penders for that. They had to adjust or they would be left in the dust. But yes with Covid now playing out they do need to adjust again and try to bring in some higher-impact freshmen (think Kyler Fedko, R. Crawford and P. Winkel). They aren't doing that at present. My hope was Daniels would be on that list but so far hasn't worked out. Can Charbaneau be that guy? Will he get to Uconn?

2) PItching - agree 100%. Patty G was last high school guy to be an impact starter at Uconn. Cookie hasn't panned out. For example, Finn is a guy throwing 94-95 that they should be able to develop. But recent history hasn't been the case. I'm not up there on a daily basis to see what they are doing from a development perspective. But to your point it hasn't worked out.

3) Need to balance between riding a hot hand and being too results-oriented. But I get your point. I've said it before whether you play Simmons, Kron or Shpur in CF probably won't be material to the offensive. Plus you aren't going to time the hot hand perfectly. At present, I'd rather see Kron play over Simmons but no big deal.

4) I personally feel program is at a bit of a fork in the road hence my readjusting recruiting approach comment. After this year Penders still has 3 years left on his deal (I think it runs thru '27). But he did look at Michigan before that contract was signed via Manuel connection. Mac is obviously looking for a head coaching job so he has higher ambitions.

 

[Rdkid]

You raise some good points here:
1) Recruiting - @Omahabound has talked about this at length. My take is they had to adjust their recruiting approach due to: a) Covid eligibility change, b) transfer portal and c) to a much less extent NIL. I'm not going to kill Penders for that. They had to adjust or they would be left in the dust. But yes with Covid now playing out they do need to adjust again and try to bring in some higher-impact freshmen (think Kyler Fedko, R. Crawford and P. Winkel). They aren't doing that at present. My hope was Daniels would be on that list but so far hasn't worked out. Can Charbaneau be that guy? Will he get to Uconn?

2) PItching - agree 100%. Patty G was last high school guy to be an impact starter at Uconn. Cookie hasn't panned out. For example, Finn is a guy throwing 94-95 that they should be able to develop. But recent history hasn't been the case. I'm not up there on a daily basis to see what they are doing from a development perspective. But to your point it hasn't worked out.

3) Need to balance between riding a hot hand and being too results-oriented. But I get your point. I've said it before whether you play Simmons, Kron or Shpur in CF probably won't be material to the offensive. Plus you aren't going to time the hot hand perfectly. At present, I'd rather see Kron play over Simmons but no big deal.

4) I personally feel program is at a bit of a fork in the road hence my readjusting recruiting approach comment. After this year Penders still has 3 years left on his deal (I think it runs thru '27). But he did look at Michigan before that contract was signed via Manuel connection. Mac is obviously looking for a head coaching job so he has higher ambitions.

Caveats to any of my points are never to be critical of the effort put out by the staff or players - I know for a fact how strong the work ethic and culture is. I’d just like to see more strike throwing and command, change of speed. I’d be thrilled to see an Enzo Stefanoni pitching today. He was a treat to watch!