A few random musings on UConn baseball and this Regional.
UConn so far has played three games against Maryland and Wake Forest, the two top seeds in this regional. The Huskies have certainly shown that they can compete with both these teams, that's for sure. In essence, both Maryland and Wake Forest are very much souped up versions of Xavier and Georgetown, teams that play in small ballparks that can really whack the ball on offense. UConn should certainly be getting used to playing these sort of offensive minded teams by now.
The only player in the everyday lineup who doesn't really have good walk totals is Korey Morton. Of course, when you spend a decent amount of the season hitting around .500, that is a sort of counter balance, plus at times he has really put his speed to good use on offense this season. I'm inclined to think that since Morton came back from his hamstring injury that he isn't quite the same player, but then again, it is hard to keep an average around .500. Also wondering if some of Erik Stock's batting problems of late may be due in some part to his leg injury that seems to be keeping him from playing the outfield.
Overall, UConn has had a solid unit on offense all season, even though it has shown it can be prone to getting into stretches where the offense just doesn't produce as well. I suspect most teams have similar peaks and valleys, as that just seems to be the nature of baseball itself. Producing on offense just always isn't an easy thing for most teams.
As much as people talk about the hitting, to me the real key to UConn's success has been the pitching, especially the starting pitching variety. It is really what has kept UConn competitive in games this season, when the offense gets productive it really adds the icing on the cake so to speak.
To me the big keys for this game for UConn are Ian Cooke and Cole Chudoba. One of them is probably going to start (everyone seems to think it will be Cooke, and so do I), and the other will probably be the first out of the pen. Neither one of them have gotten a ton of starts, so we'll see what happens. I expect the coaching staff will go with either one of them for as long as they are effective. Hoping the starting pitcher can go 5+ innings, but that is obviously dependent on effectiveness. Other probables out of the pen would be Sullivan and Afthim, and perhaps O'Donnell getting into the game to face his usual lefty hitter or two. If all goes right, Justin Willis gets to close it out, I would expect him to be available for an inning or two. But like I said, the big keys to this game are Cooke and/or Chudoba. If they are on their game, UConn should be in pretty good shape.
One more thing, playing a post season tournament at one of the top 16 seeds home fields is never going to be an easy thing that's for sure. On the other hand, UConn baseball has certainly shown this season that they are not an easy out, that's for sure. I agree with what Coach Penders has said in interviews recently, about this team having the best depth it has had in some time, and it certainly helps in these situations.
dbknews.com
