UConn Baseball Weekend Series @ Home vs. Cincy

[Stainmaster]

I follow all games on gamecast whenever available, and when not I make do with the team's Twitter account sending out updates and reading all box scores. I lurk here because huskymedic and dbmill provide good news links and information. Obviously you are fully entitled to your opinion, but it's frustrating coming here and seeing all of this harping on players. You would think that we were the Bad News Bears or something.

Some statistical perspective (all of these coming from the NCAA database):

• This season, we currently rank 84th out of 295 DI teams in fielding percentage. The past three seasons, we have ranked: 196th (2014), 150th (2013), and 240th (2012).
• We also rank 71st in walks allowed/9 innings. In 2014 we ranked 251st, in 2013 95th, and in 2012 82nd.

Looking at individual players with poor fielding percentages, I will grant that Hill's 90.6% is disappointing considering that after his summer in the CCBL, many were expecting a solid season from him. Yahn however I am not as concerned about - he's a freshman who will improve, and his bat is absolutely necessary in our lineup.

Bottom line, although I only cited two metrics, those numbers are higher than what we had last time we made regionals. So no, I'm not "one of those who just come over here to post and stir up things". I'm a fan of the baseball program with numerical reasoning as to why I find some of this criticism particularly undue.

 

[ATLDYKA]

I do realize these are college kids and they make mistakes, don't get me wrong. I don't feel like I necessarily criticize fielding errors as much as I do mental errors. I feel like they should learn from previous mistakes and year after year the same mental lapses seem to still occur even with this veteran team. The walks I criticize tend to be our closers in the bullpen. I keep hearing that Pender's trusts Darras, Ruotolo and Holmes but hasn't come to trust a guy like Nepiarsky yet. Well what more does I guy have to do to not only to earn more trust but how about lose some trust. You would think the way Penders over uses Darras and Ruotolo that they are the only guys he feels are capable of getting guys out. If I am critical of anything above all it would be that of Penders coaching philosophy.
Sorry if I am a little too passionate about our baseball team, just want to see them succeed and they can be frustrating to watch at times.

 

[huskymedic]

Fugky win but a win none the less.

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/050915aaa.html

Game Notes

• Vinny Siena recorded his 24th multi-hit game and 16th multi-RBI game, both tops on the team
• Siena became the first Husky with 50 or more RBIs in a year since LJ Mazzilli in 2013
• The Huskies have six home runs in their last two games, most in a two-game stretch this season and also the most in any conference series
• Joe DeRoche-Duffin became the first Husky this season to homer in back-to-back games and leads the squad with nine

Up next, UConn and Cincinnati conclude their weekend series tomorrow on Senior Day in Storrs. The Huskies will honor their six-member senior class prior to the contest.

 

[huskymedic]

To start today:

Today's action: ECU beat UH 4-1, Tulane took out USF 5-3, Memphis beat UCF 6-5 and we win 10-8. Going into tomorrow (not considering tie-breakers):

UH 12-8
ECU 12-8
USF 11-9
Memphis 11-9
UConn 10-10
Tulane 10-10
UCF 8-12
Cincy 6-14

 

[huskymedic]

They were speculating on WHUS that Over had to come out of the game because of a blister on his pitching hand.

Post game conversation was a bit more concerning in that he complained about losing feeling in ring finger and "pinky" leading to speculation he might have ulna inflammation. Penders mentioned it has happened two or three time previously. May need to be shut down for a bit.

 

[dbmill]

I do realize these are college kids and they make mistakes, don't get me wrong. I don't feel like I necessarily criticize fielding errors as much as I do mental errors. I feel like they should learn from previous mistakes and year after year the same mental lapses seem to still occur even with this veteran team. The walks I criticize tend to be our closers in the bullpen. I keep hearing that Pender's trusts Darras, Ruotolo and Holmes but hasn't come to trust a guy like Nepiarsky yet. Well what more does I guy have to do to not only to earn more trust but how about lose some trust. You would think the way Penders over uses Darras and Ruotolo that they are the only guys he feels are capable of getting guys out. If I am critical of anything above all it would be that of Penders coaching philosophy.
Sorry if I am a little too passionate about our baseball team, just want to see them succeed and they can be frustrating to watch at times.

As far as the "trust" thing goes (and I do admit I probably overuse that word), I do think Nepiarsky is getting there with Coach Penders. Of course, Nepiarsky probably would of helped his cause quite a bit if he had returned to school in playing shape at the beginning of the season, something that Penders brought up in one of his post game interviews. As for Holmes, he seems to be in a similar situation with Nepiarsky, not quite all the way there with Penders, although he has had a few late inning pitching stints when the main relievers were not available.

 

[dbmill]

Post game conversation was a bit more concerning in that he complained about losing feeling in ring finger and "pinky" leading to speculation he might have ulna inflammation. Penders mentioned it has happened two or three time previously. May need to be shut down for a bit.

And with the bullpen as thin as it is, that does not sound good. Over already has had an injury time out this season, and it seemed he was just starting to get over that episode and showing some good pitching stints.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

UConnBaseball11:35am via TweetDeck
#UConn will honor its seniors:

Carson Cross
Blake Davey
Connor David
Jordan Tabakman
Jon Testani
Eric Yavarone

before today's game.

 

[huskymedic]

Nice way to start your Senior day:

UConnBaseball12:05pm via TweetDeck
Mid 1 | Nice and easy first inning for Tabakman, getting a strikeout and two grounders to first.#UConn coming up, no score.

UConnBaseball12:15pm via TweetDeck
B1 | BIG BLAKE...THREE-RUN BIG FLY! Davey follows a Siena single and Melley double with his second home run of the weekend, #UConn up 3-0.

 

[ucjoet]

Something to root for today. If we win plus Memphis ( down 2-0 in 5th) and USF loses we would be in a 4 way tie for 3rd and only 1 game out of second. As I stated a few times above or in other threads, the most important thing is us winning ( obvious statement ). But with this league being so closely contested, you can go from 2nd to 7th with just a few games lost. So it makes every conference game incredibly important.

 

[ucjoet]

Nice way to start your Senior day:

UConnBaseball12:05pm via TweetDeck
Mid 1 | Nice and easy first inning for Tabakman, getting a strikeout and two grounders to first.#UConn coming up, no score.

UConnBaseball12:15pm via TweetDeck
B1 | BIG BLAKE...THREE-RUN BIG FLY! Davey follows a Siena single and Melley double with his second home run of the weekend, #UConn up 3-0.

Great start. Exactly what we needed

 

[huskymedic]

Down 4-3 Mid3

 

[dbmill]

Well, a not so good 3rd inning. Four runs for Cincinnati gives them a 4-3 lead.

 

[huskymedic]

But they respond...

UConnBaseball12:53pm via TweetDeck
B3 | Tie game! Ann Marie's boy Bobby Melley ropes his second double of the game to right to plate Siena and #UConn ties it at 4-4.

Buckle up.

 

[dbmill]

RBI double by Melley scores Siena to tie the game at 4 at the end of the 3rd. Cincinnati does not have the deepest pitching staff, is already using their third pitcher of the game.

 

[huskymedic]

To start today:

Today's action: ECU beat UH 4-1, Tulane took out USF 5-3, Memphis beat UCF 6-5 and we win 10-8. Going into tomorrow (not considering tie-breakers):

UH 12-8
ECU 12-8
USF 11-9
Memphis 11-9
UConn 10-10
Tulane 10-10
UCF 8-12
Cincy 6-14

UCF just took @ Memphis 4-1

 

[huskymedic]

Seniors are having a good day...

UConnBaseball1:43pm via TweetDeck
B6 | Huskies lead! Kim's boy Jon Testani rips a two-out RBI single to left and #UConn jumps ahead 5-4. #BleedBlue

 

[ATLDYKA]

Way to bounce back with 2 out single for Testani. UConn 5-4 bottom of 6.

 

[dbmill]

Jordan Tabakman stays in to pitch the 7th. Aside from the 3rd inning Tabakman has been good. This is usually as far as he goes, but I'm sure Penders is hoping to get another inning out of him so he can go directly to Ruotolo without using anyone else from the bullpen. It would seem to me Ruotolo going three innings today would be a bit much since he got the save in yesterday's game.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I think we're in business. Finally a two out hit (Daniello)!

 

[dbmill]

I think we're in business. Finally a two out hit (Daniello)!

The Daniello triple was against a lefty, and Daniello hasn't been hitting southpaws well this season. Five run lead, and Ruotolo coming in to pitch the 8th.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Game over. 9-4 final. A sweep is just what the doctor ordered.

 

[huskymedic]

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/051015aaa.html

Game Notes:

• UConn improved to 17-9 all-time against Cincinnati
• The Huskies swept a conference weekend series for the first time this season
• Over his last 12 games, Bobby Melley is batting .453 (24-of-53) with seven doubles and 15 RBIs
• Jordan Tabakman recorded a career-high seven strikeouts

Up next, the Huskies conclude midweek play with a road trip to Kingston, R.I. on Tuesday afternoon. UConn and Rhode Island will square off at Beck Field for a 3:30 p.m. first pitch.

 

[huskymedic]

Next weekend: UConn @ Houston, ECU @ Cincy, Tulane @ Memphis and UCF @ USF.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda... just one those rubber game!