Men UConn Baseball to open 2025 Season at the inaugural Puerto Rico Challenge (Game 3 v. Penn State - Sunday 2/16/25 @7p) All games on ESPN+/MIXLR

[Fairfield_1st]

My negative side is overruling my optimism. Zane Coppersmith in to pitch for Stetson. Announcers say he has some nasty stuff. Hopefully he left it back in Florida.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Single by Biller to start the inning.

 

[dbmill]

Top 9th, Biller has a lead off single, but that is followed by 3 outs. Stetson wins 10-6.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

My DiectTV/ESPN+ connection went FUBAR with Biller on & "The Babe" up. Damn technology,

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[scotty0330]

Shaw gives me Jacob Wallace vibes. Needs another pitch though.

One game…lineup and pen are always a work in process at beginning of season.

 

[dbmill]

HookC Rallies, Falls on Opening Day - University of Connecticut Athletics

Caguas, Puerto Rico – The UConn baseball team rallied back from a five-run deficit but ultimately lost its Opening Day contest against Stetson, 10-6, on Friday afternoon

uconnhuskies.com

 

[huskymedic]

 

[UConNick]

Surprised Mizzou got punked like that.

Had to check their roster to see if Juju Stevens was still there. As most here probably remember, he was a big-time prospect out of Amity in 2021 that turned us down to go play for Mizzou in the SEC.

He’s not. Quick Google confirms he’s now at Georgia Southern. Got some playing time at Mizzou in his years there but never consistent starts.

Even though he’s not there anymore, I still want to pound them for poaching him in the first place.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[BaseballDog]

Game 1 thoughts:

-Penders era record on game 1 of the season falls to 6-16. Luckily Penders crew has been fairly successful at putting game 1 disappointment in the rear view mirror.
-Team defense looked good (Other than having 4 SBs against). Great catch by Shpur to end the fifth.
-Transfers looked great. Particularly all the West Coast boys (MacArthur, Dougherty, and Biller) and Manhattan College boys (Pudvar and Shaw)
-Rough day at the plate for Dalena (0 for 5- with 4Ks and a GIDP). Only guy in lineup not to reach base.
-Van Emon had moments. Stuff looked decent early.
-Pudvar was the star of the game for us on the mound. 3.1 IP 0H 0R, only blemish was a HBP.
-Freshman struggles for Suchy. However I am encouraged that Penders has enough confidence in the true Freshman to use in the bottom of the seventh with a 1 run lead.
- Their 1 thru 5 in their lineup killed us. Accounted for all ten of their runs. Mostly on mistakes. 8 BBs and 3 HBPs. Can't win giving up 11 freebies.
-Daniels shaken up on a play in the 7th getting caught on the outfield lip of grass. Stayed in game but noticeable limp at times from there on. Worth watching coming off of hip injury.
-Not sure how MacArthur did not end up on 2nd on his got that rolled all the way into the left field corner in the seventh. His bat looks good but man I was expecting that to end up as a stand up double.
-10Ks to 3BB at the plate for us. Not a great ratio.
-I do like the pieces we have. Hardest part about the beginning of the season is figuring out what you have and getting everyone in the right spots. Once we get Minick back in the fold and figure out what we have on the mound then we should be a fun team to watch.

Big East goes 1-9 on day one. Villanova gets lone win as they score five in the ninth to pull out a 10-6 win over Rice.

 

[BaseballDog]

Surprised Mizzou got punked like that.

Had to check their roster to see if Juju Stevens was still there. As most here probably remember, he was a big-time prospect out of Amity in 2021 that turned us down to go play for Mizzou in the SEC.

He’s not. Quick Google confirms he’s now at Georgia Southern. Got some playing time at Mizzou in his years there but never consistent starts.

Even though he’s not there anymore, I still want to pound them for poaching him in the first place.

Word was they were also in on the recruitment of Reggie Crawford. I am glad we won that one.

Hard to tell based on that one result between Mizzou and Penn State whether Penn State is that good or Mizzou is that bad. In addition to being a 10-0 result, Penn State also out hit Mizzou 10-2. Looking forward to seeing our guys play both teams over the next couple days. The Penn State game will be a nice little reunion for the UConn staff facing off against Mike Gambino after his 13 year run at BC.

 

[businesslawyer]

It’s baseball. With one exception below, will refrain from even the most basic early comments until after the series. Having said that, coming into the season I was not thrilled with our roster, and thought that if this was going to be a better than average Penders team our starting pitching would have to be really strong. Van Emon was not a really good starter over the course of the year, but he was so amazing in the Regional I was optimistic. It was one start, but yesterday did not help my optimism. And I still believe that our weekend starting pitching is going to have to be really, really good — considerably better than it was last year — to have a really good season,

 

[hardcorehusky]

It’s baseball. With one exception below, will refrain from even the most basic early comments until after the series. Having said that, coming into the season I was not thrilled with our roster, and thought that if this was going to be a better than average Penders team our starting pitching would have to be really strong. Van Emon was not a really good starter over the course of the year, but he was so amazing in the Regional I was optimistic. It was one start, but yesterday did not help my optimism. And I still believe that our weekend starting pitching is going to have to be really, really good — considerably better than it was last year — to have a really good season,

What made you not thrilled with our roster?

 

[huskymedic]

Hatters playing some good ball to start the season:

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

Top 1st, UConn's Biller with a 1 out single, with 2 outs he steals 2B. He is left on base at the end of the inning. No score.

 

[dbmill]

At some point soon I will be taking a break from posting stuff to eat dinner, not sure when exactly. Hopefully I will feel like posting again after dinner is over, but we will see.

 

[dbmill]

Bottom 1st, Cooke walks the leadoff hitter. A strikeout followed by a double play ends the inning with no runs. No score.

 

[businesslawyer]

What made you not thrilled with our roster?

Because I can’t remember a season where we’ve gone into it with so few people who have been above average starters or rotation pitchers for us or a top 100 program somewhere else. We have returned our share of position starters, but none that have proven they could be the key hitters. And I can’t recall coming into a season with as few pitchers who have shown they can be above average at their level of responsibility.

I’m not hating. I’m hoping I’m proven wrong and transfers come through bit time. But the transfers are not guys like Casey Dana or Freeberger who were already established major players.

 

[dbmill]

Interested to see how Connor Lane does in his first start with UConn, especially after watching play in Norwich last summer.

 

[huskymedic]

Bottom 1st, Cooke walks the leadoff hitter. A strikeout followed by a double play ends the inning with no runs. No score.