Opening Weekend in Georgia

[dbmill]

Bottom 8th, UConn still trails 5-3. Dan Rajkowski in to pitch.

 

[huskymedic]

Hmmmm....

 

[dbmill]

Rajkowski promptly gives up a 2 run homer to make it 7-3.

 

[dbmill]

Rajkowski gets two outs, and now freshman Joe Simeone is coming in to try to get the final out of the 8th.

Simeone pops up his batter to get the final out of the 8th inning.

 

[dbmill]

Stefanski leads off the 9th with a single, his third hit of the game. With a game like this, he'll certainly get more starts in center.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Ugly game, gotta be better tomorrow

 

[dbmill]

Game over, Kennesaw State beats UConn 7-3.

 

[huskymedic]

Sigh... it’s not like we haven’t dropped a season opener before

 

[Stainmaster]

Sigh... it’s not like we haven’t dropped a season opener before

Maybe next year Penders takes the cell phone out of his pocket...

 

[dbmill]

No matter how good a UConn baseball team, it never pays to get overly confident about the first weekend of games. The only time I remember them coming out of this weekend with a winning record was last year when they played another northeast team in UMass Lowell. It would be interesting to check the record to see when they won the opening weekend before that.

Edit. 2010, UConn won two out of three against Big 10 teams, figures it would be that year. In 2006, UConn won two out of three against Florida Atlantic.

 

[dbmill]

Post game interview with Coach Penders

 

[huskymedic]

>>Notes

Troy Stefanski collected his second three-hit performance of his career (vs. William and Mary at Northridge, Calif., March 11, 2016).

The Huskies hit three home runs in a game for the first time since 2016.

Michael Woodworth, Christian Fedko and Vinnie Palliscoall recorded their first hits in a UConn Husky uniform.

Joe Simeone (relief) and Andy Hague (pinch-runner) also made their UConn debuts.

UConn is 53-67-2 all-time in season openers.<<

 

[huskymedic]

On the flip side: UCF took out #15/19 UVA and USF took out #6 UNC.

Holy Cross beats #24 Houston 3-2.

 

[dbmill]

Per the team's Twitter account, Willy Yahn is on the call with Chris Jones.

Noice!

Listened to the game today. I'm usually not a fan of drop in guests as announcers, but in this case my wife and I thought Willy Yahn did quite well on the WHUS broadcast today. Of course, it helps when you have Chris Jones around to help you out.

 

[scotty0330]

Another year a whole bunch of cameos in chris jones post gamer with coach. Semisonic, a couple hammers and the wind make an appearance. Lawnmower still to come later this year.

The hits were there which is a good sign for a young team. A little surprised to give up 7 runs in a Tim Cate started game. As penders says best thing about a lot of openers is that there is a second game the next day. A couple more hits strung together tomorrow and hopefully a W follows.

Hook c is back regardless and that is a great thing.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

In today's game. against Georgia State it appears that UConn will be facing another RHP in JUCO transfer Jake Rogers.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

Another year a whole bunch of cameos in chris jones post gamer with coach. Semisonic, a couple hammers and the wind make an appearance. Lawnmower still to come later this year.

The hits were there which is a good sign for a young team. A little surprised to give up 7 runs in a Tim Cate started game. As penders says best thing about a lot of openers is that there is a second game the next day. A couple more hits strung together tomorrow and hopefully a W follows.

Hook c is back regardless and that is a great thing.

I like the interviews, the problem as you indicate is that usually at some point the background noise always seems to drown out Penders and Jones at some point. And yes, I'm always waiting for some vehicle to drive by.

 

[dbmill]

Fedko and Phillips into the lineup today, Winkel and Pallisco out. Expect to see a lot of movement of players in and out of the lineup outside of the Core 4 of Susi, Prato, Feldstein, and Toppa, especially during the early part of the season. If you want to stay in this lineup, hit like Stefanski did yesterday.

 

[dbmill]

UConn goes down quickly 1-2-3 in the top of the 1st.

 

[dbmill]

Bottom 1st, Feole gets an easy 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout included.

 

[dbmill]

2nd inning, UConn batters go down in order. Feole in the bottom of the inning, hits a batter, but otherwise easily retires the side, picking up his second strikeout of the game.

 

[dbmill]

Top 3rd, Stefanski single drives in Moriarty who had singled and advanced to 3B on an error. 1-0 UConn.