2016 AAC Baseball Championship

[huskymedic]

UConnBaseball 10:02pm via Twitter Web Client
#UConn earns a Friday off-day and will play the winner on Memphis/USF in a semifinal tilt on Sat., May 28 at 1 p.m.#HookC

 

[ATLDYKA]

Nice to see Polonia throwing strikes tonight. Great overall win tonight. Offense, Defense and Pitching were stellar. By the way, Springer has two homers tonight for the Astros. Huskies know when it is late May.

 

[uconnbaseball]

We would have beaten the cubs tonight.

Polonia has filthy stuff. Was great to see him pitch like that.

 

[dbmill]

First two games went as well as could want for UConn. Two dominant starts by Kay and Cate, and Ruotolo and the bullpen very well rested for the weekend games to come.

 

[dbmill]

We would have beaten the cubs tonight.

Polonia has filthy stuff. Was great to see him pitch like that.

Generally speaking, opposing clubs rarely hit Polonia hard. It is his lack of control that does him in. But when he is on and has control of that slider, the other team is in a lot of trouble.

 

[dbmill]

One thing that has been going through my head is that since I've been following UConn baseball is that the Huskies often seem to make it to at least the semi final round of the conference tournament that is played on Saturday. So I decided to check it out in the UConn baseball media guide. Since the 2007 season, the only years where UConn did not get to the Saturday semi final games were 2008 (they did not qualify for the Big East tourney that year) and 2014, when the AAC tournament had a one year change away from the double elimination tournament. So since 2007 and including this season, UConn has made it to the semi finals 8 times, and made it to the conference finals 4 times (does not include this year, at least not yet).

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Baseballguy]

Was wondering what everybody thinks about the pitching in game 3. Do you start Wills (who would almost guarantee to get us to the championship) or do you pitch by committee (Zapata/Rossomando/Riley). I like the idea of Wills pitching the championship game, but can not lose game 3 due to the RPI hit we'd take.

 

[dbmill]

Was wondering what everybody thinks about the pitching in game 3. Do you start Wills (who would almost guarantee to get us to the championship) or do you pitch by committee (Zapata/Rossomando/Riley). I like the idea of Wills pitching the championship game, but can not lose game 3 due to the RPI hit we'd take.

I'd pitch Montgomerie in game 3. If you pitch a midweek starter, you are partially giving away the advantage UConn has gained from the first two games. I want to lessen the possibility of playing a doubleheader on Saturday. The less games you play, the less the bullpen will be tired out. Also, right now UConn is not assured of an at large bid to the NCAA tournament, a loss on Saturday probably kills any chance of an at large bid.

 

[Baseballguy]

I'd pitch Montgomerie in game 3. If you pitch a midweek starter, you are partially giving away the advantage UConn has gained from the first two games. I want to lessen the possibility of playing a doubleheader on Saturday. The less games you play, the less the bullpen will be tired out.

I agree. In your scenario how does the championship game play out, assuming they will game 3.

 

[dbmill]

I agree. In your scenario how does the championship game play out, assuming they will game 3.

First off, the ideal in game 3 is that we have repeat of the first two games, Montgomerie gets deep into the game and the score is such that Ruotolo doesn't have to pitch again.

If this happens and UConn wins game 3, on Sunday I would expect that we could see Ruotolo from the 7th inning on, pitching multiple innings.

As for the starter, I expect to see Zapata on the mound, although I would also guess that Rossomando could be a candidate. If Zapata gets in any trouble early, Rossomando is first out of the bullpen. From what Chris Jones was saying during game 2, expect to see Anthony Kay out of the bullpen as well. Kay has been a terrific reliever when he was used that way in the past. But of course, it is a all hands on deck day on Sunday.

 

[ATLDYKA]

First off, the ideal in game 3 is that we have repeat of the first two games, Montgomerie gets deep into the game and the score is such that Ruotolo doesn't have to pitch again.

If this happens and UConn wins game 3, on Sunday I would expect that we could see Ruotolo from the 7th inning on, pitching multiple innings.

As for the starter, I expect to see Zapata on the mound, although I would also guess that Rossomando could be a candidate. If Zapata gets in any trouble early, Rossomando is first out of the bullpen. From what Chris Jones was saying during game 2, expect to see Anthony Kay out of the bullpen as well. Kay has been a terrific reliever when he was used that way in the past. But of course, it is a all hands on deck day on Sunday.

I agree, if we take care of business Saturday would expect Zapata to get the start, but would certainly have a lot of fresh arms ready to come in with any issues. Zapata does have some big game experience already.
The one disadvantage we have is that the other side of the bracket started on Tuesday. You would think that the rep in the Championship game could come back with their number 1 on 4 days rest?

 

[Baseballguy]

I expect Tulane to win today and think they will win the first game against Houston. This will deplete both teams pitching staffs which will neutralize the advantage of playing their first game Tuesday. Even if Houston sweeps, we won't see Romero.

 

[killerBsaturn]

Definetly have to start Wills game 3, got to take it one game at a time.

 

[Baseballguy]

After thinking about it more I start Zapata/Rossomando, whoever the coaching staff is more comfortable with, game 3. Whether we face USF or Memphis, they will be on their 4th/5th pitchers. What we done with the bats against their top guys suggest that we will get to their midweek guys. I also have Zapata/Rossomando on an extremely short leash in the first 4 innings, any sign of control issues put in Wills and shut them down. This would setup a more favorable matchup in the championship with a win.

 

[uconnbaseball]

If we start Willis game 3, maybe we do what USF did and start Pat in the conference final. Bear in mind that Zapata and Rossamando are probably better than the usf and memphis midweek pitching that have gotten shelled all year.

 

[4in16]

5-0 Tulane top 8.

 

[huskymedic]

5-0 Tulane top 8.

American_BSB 1:46pm via TweetDeck

FINAL:
@GreenWaveBSB 5,
@UCF_Baseball 0

Tulane advances to tmrw's semis & will play @UHCougarBB at 10am ET/9am CT

 

[huskymedic]

USF-Memphis tied @ 4 heading into 9th... c'mon extra innings!!!

 

[huskymedic]

USF-Memphis tied @ 4 heading into 9th... c'mon extra innings!!!

American_BSB 6:05pm via TweetDeck
After scoring 3 runs in the 9th, @MemphisBaseball claims a 7-5 win over @USFBaseball to advance to the semifinals

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[scotty0330]

has starting pitcher been announced? I am guessing with no lineup the answer is no but not sure if word got out what direction Penders was going...I am assuming Montgomery gets the nod to put us in best position to get to Sunday without having to play again tonight.

 

[dbmill]

has starting pitcher been announced? I am guessing with no lineup the answer is no but not sure if word got out what direction Penders was going...I am assuming Montgomery gets the nod to put us in best position to get to Sunday without having to play again tonight.

It seems that with UConn college baseball, we're forever waiting for that twitter announcement of the starting lineup for confirmation of the starting pitcher. It would be a big surprise to me if Montgomerie were not the starting pitcher today. Coach Penders strikes me as a pretty sensible guy with this sort of thing, and besides, from the interviews that I've seen with him recently, he is a big believer in the power of this winning streak, and seems absolutely committed to doing things that will not muck about with it. The best way to keep this streak alive is to start Montgomerie, and that is what I expect Penders to do.