Update (hit hyperlink for full article):
-> UConn baseball rolled into a weekend series with Georgetown at Elliot Ballpark last weekend with as much momentum as it had all season. The Huskies, then winners of five straight, had settled into a groove after a sub-.500 start to the season.
Then COVID-19 hit. The baseball team has had nine positive cases in the last eight days, causing the cancellation of six games so far.“The first one came back last Thursday and that turned into some contacts,” UConn baseball coach Jim Penders said.
Before last Friday’s game, another player reported feeling ill and was sent for tests. The Huskies were cleared to start their series against the Hoyas and won on Friday. During the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the player’s positive result was confirmed. The schools were allowed to finish the game after communication with doctors at both schools, with UConn winning in seven innings for their seventh victory in a row.
“I had to make a decision in that moment,” Penders said. “I quickly decided, yes, I had to tell the team. I don’t like leaving them in the dark, treating them like children. As soon as I told them, it felt like last March 12. Just a pall came over the dugout. ‘We’ve got to take care of business. Who knows when we’re going to be allowed to do this again, try to enjoy it.’ I don’t think we enjoyed it all that much.”
On Monday, there were four more positives. By Tuesday, there were seven among 41 players, plus a coach and a student manager. The team is in suspension for now with the series at Creighton this weekend canceled. The team hopes with no more positives they can begin conditioning work and small-group workouts and possibly play at Xavier next weekend, perhaps moving the series to Saturday-Monday to have more players cleared. <-
->UConn’s baseball team played 13 games before the 2020 season was shut down and have had about 20 positives in the program since last August, Penders said. They’ve played 28 games so far, but only two Big East games. With players scheduled to getting their first vaccination shots this week, Penders is hoping to get enough conference games (14) to qualify for the Big East Tournament.
“Other sports are more concerned about legs and cardio, we’re more concerned about arms,” Penders said. “I’m hopeful this will not be blown up, we can get through this. It felt like last March 12 at that moment, I’ve spent the last six days trying to be optimistic.”
** if you need 14 conference games to qualify for BE tourney and we already have 2 in the books - there are 20 remaining BE games scheduled to get 10 more games completed **