UConn Baseball 2021

[dbmill]

Of course, any scheduled games for this season has to be considered tentative:



I believe Coach Penders has referenced the Virginia trip in interviews done in 2020. That trip would be to open the season if I remember correctly. That games in that trip previously had been scheduled for a tournament set up with other teams involved as well.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

Excellent!

 

[Tmill15]

As I anticipate not the greatest answer in the world, I will still pose the question anyway... do you think that there will be fans allowed at Elliott Ballpark when the first home opener comes around?

 

[huskymedic]

As I anticipate not the greatest answer in the world, I will still pose the question anyway... do you think that there will be fans allowed at Elliott Ballpark when the first home opener comes around?

No clue but if not allowed in the stadium... I will be lurking in the woods behind right field! I wonder if a socially distanced tree stand would be allowed ?

Seriously - no clue but socially distancing on the berm shouldn’t be that difficult if they want to avoid people in the stands for a bit...

 

[Palatine]

Unfortunately it's all COVID related. As of today about 7 million folks have been vaccinated and about 14 million people have had it and recovered. That's about 6% of the USA population. We currently vaccinate about 600,000 people a day and it is ramping up fast. Of course, some percentage of the population has natural immunity. Try to find that number anywhere.

We usually start playing baseball right after Valentine's Day which is, what, 19 days from now? So who the heck knows?

 

[UCONNJACK]

We usually start playing baseball right after Valentine's Day which is, what, 19 days from now? So who the heck knows?

19 days from today?

 

[Palatine]

19 days from today?

Sorry. The real number is more like 34 days from now.They vaccinated 700,000 on Saturday so the vaccinations per day keeps rising. With no rise that would add 23 million plus or 37 million total,or 11 percent of the total population. (we really need them to go faster).

Obviously, don't trust my math. Dumb and Dumber was more appropriate than I imagined.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

UConn baseball getting some recognition at No. 45. A sure sign of the season getting closer, with the preseason rankings starting to come out.

 

[dbmill]

According to info on the roster biographies on the UConn baseball website, recent transfers Matt Donlan and David Smith are not eligible for the upcoming 2021 season.

David Smith - Baseball - University of Connecticut Athletics

David Smith (10) Infielder/Outfielder - 2023 Season: Team Captain. Second Team College Baseball Foundation All-American. Second Team All-BIG EAST. BIG EAST All-Tournament

uconnhuskies.com

Matt Donlan - Baseball - University of Connecticut Athletics

Matt Donlan (43) Catcher - 2022 Season: Signed as undrafted free agent with the Boston Red Sox. College Park Regional Most Outstanding Player. Second Team ABCA

uconnhuskies.com

 

[huskymedic]

According to info on the roster biographies on the UConn baseball website, recent transfers Matt Donlan and David Smith are not eligible for the upcoming 2021 season.

David Smith - Baseball - University of Connecticut Athletics

David Smith (10) Infielder/Outfielder - 2023 Season: Team Captain. Second Team College Baseball Foundation All-American. Second Team All-BIG EAST. BIG EAST All-Tournament

uconnhuskies.com

Matt Donlan - Baseball - University of Connecticut Athletics

Matt Donlan (43) Catcher - 2022 Season: Signed as undrafted free agent with the Boston Red Sox. College Park Regional Most Outstanding Player. Second Team ABCA

uconnhuskies.com

Likely related to the delay this week in voting for the one-time transfer exemption that was pending final approval:

->The proposed one-time transfer rule would allow football players in the Bowl Subdivision and athletes in men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and men’s ice hockey to play immediately rather than sit out for a year the first time they move to another school.-<

 

[Palatine]

I figured a new way to give myself optimism for a normal mid February start to college baseball.

Don't look at the whole USA population as those under 18 rarely gets sick from COVID. That means we are dealing with a population of 210 million American adults. As of yesterday 10 million adults have been vaccinated and 14 million have recovered. That means 11.4% of the adult population has some kind of immunity. Yesterday 950 thousand people received the vaccination. So even using a very conservative 1 million a day for the next 30 days, we will have 25% of country (adults) with some immunity by Valentines.

That should put some dent into the cases and deaths, perhaps, enough to start a pretty normal baseball season. Thanks for putting up with my specualtions. I'm just so sick of this.

 

[huskymedic]

I figured a new way to give myself optimism for a normal mid February start to college baseball.

Don't look at the whole USA population as those under 18 rarely gets sick from COVID. That means we are dealing with a population of 210 million American adults. As of yesterday 10 million adults have been vaccinated and 14 million have recovered. That means 11.4% of the adult population has some kind of immunity. Yesterday 950 thousand people received the vaccination. So even using a very conservative 1 million a day for the next 30 days, we will have 25% of country (adults) with some immunity by Valentines.

That should put some dent into the cases and deaths, perhaps, enough to start a pretty normal baseball season. Thanks for putting up with my specualtions. I'm just so sick of this.

We are all sick of it but let’s please not turn this thread into another circuitous Covid policy discussion. It rarely turns out well. When the season happens - it happens.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[HOOK C FAN]

Will the new facility come with the side benefit of streaming video of all home games? All the big programs do this; heck, there are some high schools that do! I mean, Jonesie does a great job and all, but...

 

[dbmill]

Will the new facility come with the side benefit of streaming video of all home games? All the big programs do this; heck, there are some high schools that do! I mean, Jonesie does a great job and all, but...

I can't say all home baseball games in the past were streamed, but a goodly chunk of them were, with Chris Jones and WHUS often providing the audio. Hopefully they will have better camera angles than in the past.

 

[dbmill]

Another benefit of the new baseball facility. Coach Penders alluded to this in recent interviews indicating they were able to do more practices and scrimmages in the fall on the field than they have in past years.

 

[huskymedic]

Early chance to make some noise. Playing #10, #28 & #3 in the first month of the season:

 

[huskymedic]

 

[scotty0330]

I noticed Zach Donahue is not on 2021 roster. Did spend last summer with Casparius on the NB Bees. Was surprised since I don't remember hearing his name as transferring or sitting out.

 

[dbmill]

I noticed Zach Donahue is not on 2021 roster. Did spend last summer with Casparius on the NB Bees. Was surprised since I don't remember hearing his name as transferring or sitting out.

I will say up front that don't know the circumstances of Zach Donahue not being on the the current roster. Zach Donahue was listed on the fall ball roster when that was posted, but he was one of the names that were gone when the 2021 roster got posted just prior to the new year. With New Britain last summer Donahue got the reputation of being an excellent defensive outfielder, but he didn't provide much in the way of offense. One thing I noticed during the fall ball interviews with the coaches was that Donahue never got much of a mention. I'm inclined to think that is never a good sign especially if you had been on the team the previous year.. At one point I think it was Coach Penders mentioned in an interview that the team had three excellent defensive center fielders in Chris Winkel, Kyler Fedko, and California JUCO transfer T.C. Simmons, with no mention of Donahue.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

(4 gms vs. #3 Texas Tech & 3 gms vs. #5 UVA)

 

[huskymedic]

Connecticut​

The Huskies were supposed to compete in the Big East last spring, but that didn’t happen because of COVID. Now, their first official season back in the league continues with a loaded club. UConn has an intriguing pitching staff with North Carolina transfer Ben Casparius leading the way. Casparius was up to 94-95 mph with his fastball with electric stuff in the fall, while the back end of the bullpen is in good shape with the return of Caleb Wurster. Offensively, the return of Kyler and Christian Fedko is huge for Connecticut, while Pat Winkel is a star backstop and Reggie Crawford, who hit .365 as a freshman last season, is expected to have a monster second freshman campaign.


(They are also high on BC and Southern Miss who we scheduled).