Gainesville Regional Preview - BaseballAmerica.com (Team previews w/ some stats):
>>3. Connecticut (37-23, 14-9 in American)
19th appearance (last in 2013), automatic, third place in American, American tournament champion
Top 300 Prospects: LHP Anthony Kay (35)
Season In A Sentence: Up and down much of the season, Connecticut finished strong, winning 13 of its final 14 games and win the American Athletic Conference Tournament title and a spot in regionals.
Player To Watch: Anthony Kay, lhp: A veteran of USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team, Kay excelled this spring and was named AAC pitcher of the year after going 9-2, 2.46 with 108 strikeouts in 113 1/3 innings. He became the school’s all-time strikeout king, passing Red Sox righthander Matt Barnes. After throwing Sunday on short rest in the AAC Tournament championship game, UConn will hold Kay for later in the regional. That sets up Kay to face Florida in a potential winners’ bracket game, a matchup that scouts would be excited to see.
Best Weekend: vs. Houston, April 13-15. After sputtering in its first two conference weekends (splitting against Tulane and losing twice at Cincinnati), Connecticut got back on track with a sweep of Houston. It capped off a 5-0 week that included midweek wins against Fairfield and Bryant – two NCAA Tournament teams. The Huskies held the Cougars to five runs over the course of the weekend, thanks to strong starts from Kay, Tim Cate and William Montgomerie. The weekend also foreshadowed the AAC Tournament championship game, wen Connecticut completed the season sweep of Houston with a 7-2 victory.
Outlook: Connecticut comes in hot and has a true ace in Kay, but it’s going to take more than that to take down Florida. The Huskies will need their talented underclassmen such as Cate, Montgomerie and third baseman Willie Yahn to step up in a hostile environment.<<
