Baseball Weekend Series @ FIU

[huskymedic]

Fresh off a series win at nationally-ranked Kennesaw State last weekend, the UConn baseball team (4-5) faces another challenging early-season test when it travels to Florida International (7-5) for three games in Miami. The Huskies and Panthers will square off on Friday, March 6 at 7 p.m. before a 6 p.m. start on Saturday, March 7 and a 1 p.m. series finale on Sunday, March 8.

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/030415aaa.html

 

[mets1090]

FIU's results to this point are a mixed bag. Decent performances against some decent teams. Took 3 out of 4 from what appears to be a bad Manhattan College club. Seems like the standard goals... getting swept is a disaster, 1 out of 3 is frustrating, 2 out of 3 is a success, a sweep is great.

 

[dbmill]

Friday night game, top of 2nd inning, Max McDowell solo homer ties the game at 1-1.

 

[dbmill]

In top of 3rd, Testani walks, Hill bunts him to third, and Sundberg triples to deep center field, scoring Testani. Siena then hits a two run homer, giving UConn a 4-1 lead.

Normally I don't care for sac bunts early in a game. However, while Aaron Hill has been doing a good job of getting on base, he has not been hitting in the early part of this season. He is the one guy in the line up I don't mind bunting at this part of the season.

 

[dbmill]

Meanwhile, Carson Cross has retired 12 straight batters.

 

[dbmill]

Cross strikes out the side in the 6th, he has now retired 18 straight batters.

 

[lavuuk153]

Cross is dealing. 12 k's through 7.

 

[dbmill]

The 12 strike outs is a career high for Cross.

 

[dbmill]

15 strike outs, a brilliant complete game for Carson Cross. 4-1 win for UConn.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Wow, what a game for Carson. Nice to see them building off of last weeks performance. Great job. Nice to see some others showing some pop in the lineup. Sundberg with a great night and Siena is really playing well right now.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/030615aaa.html

Stats

 

[huskymedic]

UConnBaseball10:03am via TweetDeck
The dominant outing by #UConn's @carsoncross43 last night was highlighted by @aaronfitt on @d1baseball this morning: http://www.d1baseball.com/at-the-ballpark/ten-thoughts-friday-march-6/

5. Hold on—what about Carson Cross?
Fine; nobody gets to be pitcher of the day—it’s too hard to choose just one. Connecticut ace Carson Cross was masterful in a 4-1 win against Florida International, striking out 15 without issuing a walk while allowing just a run on two hits in a complete game. It was the most strikeouts by a UConn pitcher in head coach Jim Penders’ 12-year tenure. Cross gave up a double to the first batter of the game and then retired 27 of the next 29, including a streak of 18 straight. And he did it against an FIU lineup that has plenty of talent and scored 46 runs in four games against Manhattan last weekend. Cross now has 41 strikeouts in 26.2 innings on the season. The further removed he gets from the shoulder surgery that cost him all of last season, the better his stuff should get.

But the senior’s savvy is special. In a postgame interview with UConn’s official website, Cross said he noticed early in the game that FIU’s hitters were hunting fastballs, so he attacked them with his slider. The second and third time through the lineup, he said the Panthers were anxious about the slider, so he came back after them with fastballs. Scouts who have seen Cross early this year said he had not shown his best stuff, but his ability to set hitters up and sit them down is very advanced, as he showed once again Friday.

 

[dbmill]

Second game has Max McDowell in left, Davey catching, Daniello at short, and Connor Buckley getting his first career start at 3B. The badly slumping Aaron Hill is out of the lineup.

Start time has been moved back to 6:30 due to showers passing through the area. That's Florida for you.

 

[scotty0330]

I like the move putting Daniello at short. Hill has not hit a lick and his fielding leaves a lot to be desired. I would like to see what Buckley can do for a couple games. No reason to keep trotting hill out to short.

 

[dbmill]

According to the UConn baseball twitter feed, rain is still falling in Miami, so the start is delayed further.

 

[huskymedic]

UConnBaseball8:12pm via Twitter for iPhone
Word now is an 8:35 first pitch for game two between #UConn and FIU. #BleedBlue

Live stats - http://sidearmstats.com/fiu/baseball/
Radio - 2.whus.org

 

[dbmill]

The game is now in the bottom of the second, and Sundberg continues with his hot offensive play. He has already scored a run and has an rbi in the first two innings. 2-1 UConn lead.

 

[ATLDYKA]

The answer to my prayers. We are really making the opposing pitcher work. He has thrown 85 pitches through 3 innings. Now we just need to make him pay. We have left the bases loaded twice and 7 men already thru three. Need to start driving in some of these potential runs.

 

[dbmill]

Top of 4th, Sundberg gets hit by a pitch, and eventually scores on a McDowell single. 3-1 UConn.

 

[huskymedic]

@uconnbaseball: As mentioned by @JonesCcj on air, Jack Sundberg has a career-high three steals tonight...11th multi-steal game of his career. #BleedBlue

 

[scotty0330]

did not realize they were using Davey as an alt catcher. Almost thought Chris Jones was out of his mind when he said Davey threw out a base runner attempting to steal.

 

[dbmill]

did not realize they were using Davey as an alt catcher. Almost thought Chris Jones was out of his mind when he said Davey threw out a base runner attempting to steal.

Davey has caught one game in each weekend series so far. Penders has spoken very highly of him in interviews about his catching ability. I'm guessing one reason Davey is catching these games is to increase his value for the baseball draft this summer.

Connor Buckley is doing quite well in his starting debut tonight. A nice play in the field at third base, and at the plate two walks, and a double which led to him scoring UConn's fourth run.

 

[dbmill]

Bottom of 7th, 5-3 UConn lead. Devin Over comes in from the bullpen.

 

[huskymedic]

@uconnbaseball: Final line on @anthonyykay: 6.0 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 6 H, 0 BB, 7 K. #BleedBlue