2016 NCAA Baseball Tournament - UConn's Road to Omaha

[ASweet3781]

So East Carolina who lost early in the AAC Tournament and B freaking C get to play in the Super Regionals.

The only thing worse than a garbage Syracuse basketball team making the Final 4 will be if BC becomes the first northeast school to play in the College World Series in 30 years.

 

[Stainmaster]

What a season. Definitely a roller coaster of emotions. I think the main takeaway is that despite the occasional miscues, this coaching staff does a great job of getting the most out of its players. This team has a considerable amount of overall talent, but very few guys were considered the Northeast equivalent of blue chip recruits coming out of school. There's something to be said for kids who grew up in cold weather areas going to a program with a less-than-great reputation when compared to the national powerhouses and going toe-to-toe with some of the best collegiate players in the country.

For those of you who migrated over here for the playoff run, I hope you'll consider following the team from the get-go next season if you have the time and energy. There are a lot of exciting young pieces returning for 2017 (Yahn, Cate, Montgomerie, Toppa, and others), as well as two recruits (1B/OF Chris Winkel of Amity HS and LHP Mason Feole) who are both likely to come here after getting selected in this week's draft. Given the holes that will need to be replaced in the lineup, I can't say for sure how successful they'll be exactly, but they will be fun to watch and continue to play an exciting brand of baseball.

But actually though, who wouldn't want to see a whole season of this?

 

[dbmill]

What a season. Definitely a roller coaster of emotions. I think the main takeaway is that despite the occasional miscues, this coaching staff does a great job of getting the most out of its players. This team has a considerable amount of overall talent, but very few guys were considered the Northeast equivalent of blue chip recruits coming out of school. There's something to be said for kids who grew up in cold weather areas going to a program with a less-than-great reputation when compared to the national powerhouses and going toe-to-toe with some of the best collegiate players in the country.

For those of you who migrated over here for the playoff run, I hope you'll consider following the team from the get-go next season if you have the time and energy. There are a lot of exciting young pieces returning for 2017 (Yahn, Cate, Montgomerie, Toppa, and others), as well as two recruits (1B/OF Chris Winkel of Amity HS and LHP Mason Feole) who are both likely to come here after getting selected in this week's draft. Given the holes that will need to be replaced in the lineup, I can't say for sure how successful they'll be exactly, but they will be fun to watch and continue to play an exciting brand of baseball.

But actually though, who wouldn't want to see a whole season of this?

You know, that picture sums up things pretty well around here. To paraphrase a line from Ray Davies and The Kinks, wish I could fly like Willy Yahn!

 

[hardcorehusky]

I think the pitching next year will be even better- Cate, Montgomery and Rossomondo for weekend, a young bullpen where if Polonia can harness his stuff could have a stud closer and lots of returnees in the pen as well. The freshmen will have their opportunity as well- maybe even Zapata can figure it out.

In the field, we are set with Hill at SS or 2nd, Yahn, Toppa and Susi. If Winkel can take over at first and Gnesda can be the next Deroche-Duffin, we won't have too much of a dip lineup wise.

 

[Gurleyman]

So East Carolina who lost early in the AAC Tournament and B freaking C get to play in the Super Regionals.

The only thing worse than a garbage Syracuse basketball team making the Final 4 will be if BC becomes the first northeast school to play in the College World Series in 30 years.

Stony Brook just went to the CWS a couple years ago.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Let's not forget: UConn may not bring in blue chip recruit after blue chip recruit, but this program still recruits very well. The Toppa Cate class was ranked in the top 25, and this year's batch has a lot of highly rated recruits too. This isn't the football program, we beat regional powers for many of our recruits and although we might be too young to make a regional next year, we could be a 2 seed a couple years down the road.

 

[Baseballguy]

This was a fantastic season. If you were to tell me 2 months ago that we would not only win the AAC tournament but also beat GT and give the #1 team in the country a run for their money, I'd say you were crazy. It just tells you how much heart these kids have. I made the trip to Gainesville as well. It was a blast, the kids played their hearts out as Penders mentioned. The great leadership on this team stems from the tri-captains, Melley, Daniello and Sundberg. I wish them and the rest of the seniors the best of luck in the upcoming draft. For next year, the pitching should be the strength of the team again. With Cate and Montgomery (who may get some looks in the draft as well) leading the staff and the bullpen consisting of C.J., Domnarski and Polonia, there will be a lot of close games again next year. I hope the incoming class has some pop because our seniors hit 37 of the 45 homeruns that came from our starting lineup with no real power threat currently on the team. Great season and can't wait until next year.

 

[ATLDYKA]

This was a fantastic season. If you were to tell me 2 months ago that we would not only win the AAC tournament but also beat GT and give the #1 team in the country a run for their money, I'd say you were crazy. It just tells you how much heart these kids have. I made the trip to Gainesville as well. It was a blast, the kids played their hearts out as Penders mentioned. The great leadership on this team stems from the tri-captains, Melley, Daniello and Sundberg. I wish them and the rest of the seniors the best of luck in the upcoming draft. For next year, the pitching should be the strength of the team again. With Cate and Montgomery (who may get some looks in the draft as well) leading the staff and the bullpen consisting of C.J., Domnarski and Polonia, there will be a lot of close games again next year. I hope the incoming class has some pop because our seniors hit 37 of the 45 homeruns that came from our starting lineup with no real power threat currently on the team. Great season and can't wait until next year.

Hey Baseballguy, I probably spoke to you there and didn't realize it was you. Anyway, it was an absolute great time down in Gainesville. I got to speak with John Toppa's dad and also Tyler Gnesda's parents at the game yesterday. Really nice people. The team showed real grit yesterday battling back from the 5 run deficit and just a tough play in the 9th was the difference. The one thing that was interesting at the end of the game yesterday was after the final out was made, the Tech closer turned to the UConn dugout and yelled "You suck". Just classless and wow did it fire up our fan base as one of the parents really gave it to him. Not sure what might have led up to that or if maybe something happened after the first game on Friday but it just left a bad taste in my mouth being from Atlanta and following Tech baseball that a player from their team would do that. Also loved seeing the ole basketball coach Tom Penders there rooting on his nephew and the team. He really liked giving it to the umps. Just a great time and great ending to the season. Looking forward to what next year brings.

 

[Baseballguy]

Hey Baseballguy, I probably spoke to you there and didn't realize it was you. Anyway, it was an absolute great time down in Gainesville. I got to speak with John Toppa's dad and also Tyler Gnesda's parents at the game yesterday. Really nice people. The team showed real grit yesterday battling back from the 5 run deficit and just a tough play in the 9th was the difference. The one thing that was interesting at the end of the game yesterday was after the final out was made, the Tech closer turned to the UConn dugout and yelled "You suck". Just classless and wow did it fire up our fan base as one of the parents really gave it to him. Not sure what might have led up to that or if maybe something happened after the first game on Friday but it just left a bad taste in my mouth being from Atlanta and following Tech baseball that a player from their team would do that. Also loved seeing the ole basketball coach Tom Penders there rooting on his nephew and the team. He really liked giving it to the umps. Just a great time and great ending to the season. Looking forward to what next year brings.

That same kid was also verbally arguing balls and strikes from the mound. He had an attitude problem. Really wish we could have shoved his face in it.