I've been following UConn baseball for a number of years now, and been checking out baseball polls for about the same amount of time. From what I have seen, there has always been quite a bit of difference in all the polls, and not just with UConn involved. A team can be doing very well in a poll or two, and barely register on some of the others. It's kind of the nature of college baseball and baseball itself, where it is hardly a surprise to have very good teams losing games to less then good teams on a somewhat regular basis.
Men UConn Baseball 2023
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I've been following UConn baseball for a number of years now, and been checking out baseball polls for about the same amount of time. From what I have seen, there has always been quite a bit of difference in all the polls, and not just with UConn involved. A team can be doing very well in a poll or two, and barely register on some of the others. It's kind of the nature of college baseball and baseball itself, where it is hardly a surprise to have very good teams losing games to less then good teams on a somewhat regular basis.
Yes, agree. I'm not a huge poll guy for baseball but if it did mean a lot to me I would say they are closer to #24 than they are to #10. The pitching is just not consistent enough and too big of a question mark. Also Huber injury doesn't help. Have to wait for MRI but I am not optimistic as it appears to be the foot (which can be structural). Also during Game 1 of Dan Hurley on Uconn+ Coach Podeszwa was sort of consoling Huber at the end of the dugout. You normally don't do that with a pulled muscle. Again my opinion only it's not fact. If this turns out to be a longer-term issue they need to quickly figure out if Dalena is the answer given the depth they have on the bench. Personally, I would rather have a plug-and-play solution than musical chairs but that's just my preference doesn't mean it's the right approach. They need to be confident in Dalena when BE tourney and NCAA tournament (hopefully) roll around.
First obviously they have to figure out how long Huber might be out and not able to play.
From what I saw during fall ball, the main back up options for Huber at 1B are Dalena and Broadhurst. Dalena is a lefty bat, and Broadhurst a righty hitter, so it Dalena does not work out, Broadhurst could see playing time at 1B, or they could also be platooned there. It seems to me that the coaching staff is very high on Dalena's potential and he definitely looked good to me during fall ball. Obviously, Dalena is going to have to produce with the bat, but considering the upcoming schedule is a bit weaker than what UConn has been playing, it might be a good week to give him a run at 1B if Huber is not available to play.
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Agree with the pitching depth comment, but not the Big East comment. We-re 6-3 in league. How in the world are we worse because a team we beat 2 out of 3 happened to have gone 6-0 against dreck?
Come back to me if we don't win the Big East over the course of a full 21 game schedule.
hardcorehusky
Lost patience with the garden variety UConn fan
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Would someone who thinks they are better be a dreckishe cup?
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Also would not surprise me to see Simmons get some playing time in CF in the coming weeks to get him tuned up as well. He is UConn's best defensive outfielder, and can provide solid offensive play as well. If Huber is out for a little time, there could be some interesting adjustments to the lineup.
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I understand your sentiments and, yes, BA is based in North Carolina and can be suspected of a Southern bias.
However, there is justification based on tournament play. The 7th best SEC team DID win the CWS last year. Half of the past 14 years of CWS have been won by SEC teams. 9 of the runners up have been from the SEC. Okay, I anticipate your counter will be that they got there through home town games Counter-counter is you gotta win in Omaha too.
Anyway, congrats on making it to the Top 10. I hope you get a regional and hope you do NOT play in a Columbia Regional.
Good luck for the remainder unless we get matched up.
| Ole Miss (42-23) | Mike Bianco | 4-2 | Oklahoma |
| Mississippi State (50-18) | Chris Lemonis | 9-0 | Vanderbilt |
| Canceled due to Covid-19 | -- | -- | -- |
| Vanderbilt (59-12) | Tim Corbin | 8-2 | Michigan |
| Oregon State (55-12-1) | Pat Casey | 5-0 | Arkansas |
| Florida (52-19) | Kevin O'Sullivan | 6-1 | LSU |
| Coastal Carolina (55-18) | Gary Gilmore | 4-3 | Arizona |
| Virginia (44-24) | Brian O'Connor | 4-2 | Vanderbilt |
| Vanderbilt (51-21) | Tim Corbin | 3-2 | Virginia |
| * UCLA (49-17) | John Savage | 8-0 | Mississippi State |
| * Arizona (48-17) | Andy Lopez | 4-1 | South Carolina |
| * South Carolina (55-14) | Ray Tanner | 5-2 | Florida |
| South Carolina (54-16) | Ray Tanner | 2-1 (11 inn.) | UCLA |
| LSU (56-17) | Paul Mainieri | 11-4 | Texas |
uconnbaseball
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I think this board understands how tough the SEC is. The logic here is that it’d be nice for new england teams to host if they earn it, to try and grow the game. UConn and BC are both regularly drawing over 1,000 to weekend games now - small potatoes compared to, say, Baton Rouge, but dramatic improvement compared to the past (even when both teams are good).
I would love to go back to Columbia. Not because I would be confident we would win (we are not great on the mound this year) but last time was a blast. You’re welcome for what we did to clemson, I still don’t think they have recovered, lol.
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UConn @ #14 in this week’s National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Poll:
LSU (32-7) tops NCBWA Division I Poll
Tigers retain top spot for 11th straight week; ACC. SEC each boast 11 ranked teams
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I still cannot look at Garnet and Black without a pit forming in my stomach from 2011.
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Three straight inning-ending double plays felt great from our perspective but had to suck for y'all - but that's what our team did that year. Take Florida in the CWS Championship. Bases loaded, No outs. Two grounders. Threw guy out at home on the first; then double play to kill the threat.
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What is the consensus on here? I know we all would like to host a regional, but if we do, more than likely we are in the 14-16 range which would mean a matchup in the Supers against one of those 3 you note as being a notch above the field. Or would we rather be in the mid 2 range and challenge the others and avoid those top 3 before the CWS? I imagine everyone would want that chance to host regardless of possible matchups.
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First, many would like to see a NCAA tourney game in person. Second, this isn’t UConn basketball. We will take advantages to get to a Super Regional before I worry about who we face when we get there.
uconnbaseball
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Definitely host, winning a regional on our home turf would boost our already strong local recruiting ties and would be great for the fans.
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Where would "home" be if you get a regional? Stoors or somewhere nearby? Students are usually gone by tourney time.
This question has come up in the past. Coach Penders and company have pretty much said in past interviews that with the new ballpark, if UConn were to host a regional the games would be in Storrs. I fully expect that if UConn were selected to host a regional, that the games would be played in Storrs.
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uconnbaseball
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As dbmill said, probably in Storrs, with added bleachers etc to increase attendance to about 3k.
I am not opposed to Norwich or Hartford though, UConn drew excellently to Norwich in 2009 the last time we hosted (6k or so vs Oregon, better than most non-SEC teams that hosted that year).
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We didnt spend millions on a state of the art field to not host a regional on campus. With the hillside and expanded seating on the patio area there is plenty of seating and space. For reference, Marylands stadium last year only holds 2,500 and it is old and cramped with only one entrance to the stadium.
Hey everyone, I haven’t posted on the baseball boards as much as I did last year cuz school always seems to get in the way. Doesn’t mean I haven’t been following along though! Here’s a fun fact: This is Penders 20th season with UConn. In that span, he's had 16 seasons (including 2023) with 30 or more wins and is currently sitting at 686 total wins. Possible he sees 700 by the end of the year. Unreal stuff for a baseball program from the northeast
Yeah, school and work does have a habit of getting in the way of doing things just for the pleasure of it. Anyway, good to see you back on the board, even if for now it is just for this post.
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Passed Ball here <<
-> But Penders, in his 20th season at the UConn's helm, isn't all that different from many veteran coaches whose teams ascend in the rankings. "Coaches don't enjoy it," he noted. "It's for fans, everybody outside the program, it's for media. The rankings are fun to talk about, but it's poison for people inside the program. The second you start to believe that stuff, it's going to beat you. The game will not be kind to you if you start to walk around like you're the 10th-best team in the country." <-
-> "The only poll that matters is (Matt) Garbowski behind the plate, and the left-field and right-field poles," Penders said, with a smile. "That's it. Until the end of July. The one in July, that matters." <-
-> Huber, who is tied for the team lead with 10 home runs, had an MRI taken on Tuesday and will be out for "weeks," per Penders. <-
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Schedule musical chairs gets UConn a last-minute game
Boston College, Rhode Island, UConn and Yale had some last-minute schedule movements.
hookcbaseball.substack.com
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There are 4 weekends left to the regular season. There are 6 players on UConn's 37 man playing roster who have not appeared in a game this season. 5 of these players are freshmen, one would assume that they are being redshirted this season. They are the following:
Levi McAllister
Ryan Juliano
Noah Sorenson
Gavin Greger
Ryan VanDeWater
The last player on the playing roster who has not seen any game time this season is Chris Brown. That Brown hasn't played in a game this shows a couple things, how good UConn's infield depth is season, and perhaps how far Brown has dropped from a couple seasons ago when he looked like he was a budding star at 3B. Brown is also again in the Transfer Portal (he was in the Transfer Portal last summer as well), so I supposes it is possible that this may have had an impact on his not getting any playing time this season. Still, it was obvious from how players were used during fall ball games and scrimmages that Brown was behind a bunch of players in the infield.
There are also 3 players not on the official playing roster. One of them is Hector Alejandro, who is missing the season due to injury. The other 2 are freshmen pitchers who are being redshirted:
Sam Clark
J.J. Hood
Always interesting to see what happens with these redshirts in the coming season. Some might be nursing injuries. In the past some redshirts end up leaving the team, while there are those who end have a big impact on the team with their play on the field. We'll see what happens with this group.
Levi McAllister
Ryan Juliano
Noah Sorenson
Gavin Greger
Ryan VanDeWater
The last player on the playing roster who has not seen any game time this season is Chris Brown. That Brown hasn't played in a game this shows a couple things, how good UConn's infield depth is season, and perhaps how far Brown has dropped from a couple seasons ago when he looked like he was a budding star at 3B. Brown is also again in the Transfer Portal (he was in the Transfer Portal last summer as well), so I supposes it is possible that this may have had an impact on his not getting any playing time this season. Still, it was obvious from how players were used during fall ball games and scrimmages that Brown was behind a bunch of players in the infield.
There are also 3 players not on the official playing roster. One of them is Hector Alejandro, who is missing the season due to injury. The other 2 are freshmen pitchers who are being redshirted:
Sam Clark
J.J. Hood
Always interesting to see what happens with these redshirts in the coming season. Some might be nursing injuries. In the past some redshirts end up leaving the team, while there are those who end have a big impact on the team with their play on the field. We'll see what happens with this group.
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Is Chris brown even on team? His name is on roster but I have been to a couple games and don’t recall seeing him although I could have missed him too. When you have dropped off face of earth like he has no one would blame him for seeing writing on wall and finding a plan b
Chris Brown was certainly with the team during fall ball, I did see him get some playing time in fall ball games and scrimmages. I recall that just prior to the start of the season, he did get mentioned during the pre season coaching interviews about individual players on the team. As for seeing the writing on the wall, I'm sure that is at least part of the reason he is listed in the Transfer Portal. Of course, he was listed in the Transfer Portal last summer as well, and was still with the team during fall ball.
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he's been at all the home games I've been too
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Yes great crowd in Norwich that Friday night in 2010 vs Oregon. Saturday afternoon they killed CCSU and then Sunday was filled with rain delays and ended in loss to Oregon. I wouldn't mind Norwich or Hartford but with a new ballpark it makes sense to host in Storrs. I can still hear the sound of the ball exploding off Olt's bat against CCSU.
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