UConn @ CCSU (3/20/18 @ 3p)

[dbmill]

Chris Jones says he can't feel his toes in the open air press box.

 

[Baseballguy]

Chris Jones says he can't feel his toes in the open air press box.

The kid has grit. As Penders would say “We look for the announcers with dirty uniforms. Blue collar guys”

 

[dbmill]

Poulin and UConn get the 7-3 win!

 

[uconnbaseball]

Pretty clean game for the most part. If we pitch like that, we will win most of our New England games.

Hitting was pretty weak today, save for the 10th inning.

 

[dbmill]

Pretty clean game for the most part. If we pitch like that, we will win most of our New England games.

Hitting was pretty weak today, save for the 10th inning.

I would hope UConn wins at least two thirds of the New England games. That being said, it would have been a bit depressing to lose the very first New England game they play. So in that way this is a very good win.

 

[Baseballguy]

I was hoping for a lot more out of the offense today. They play a hot team this weekend with arguably the best pitcher in this year’s draft class. They will need to be a lot better to win Friday’s game even if Cate pitches like he was expected to this year.

 

[uconnbaseball]

I would hope UConn wins at least two thirds of the New England games. That being said, it would have been a bit depressing to lose the very first New England game they play. So in that way this is a very good win.

Yea, the team should shoot for 75% of their NE games but realistically, 67% would be acceptable and a step up from last year.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Anyone know why Maycock doesn't get chance to hit. Kid has a solid build.

Worth a shot; we need more offense and I would love to give him more burn during these midweek games.

As an aside, it sounds like we benefitted from the umps today.

 

[dbmill]

Anyone know why Maycock doesn't get chance to hit. Kid has a solid build.

Worth a shot; we need more offense and I would love to give him more burn during these midweek games.

I would say Ben Maycock hasn't got a chance to hit because Christian Fedko pretty much beat him to the DH spot. If you go by the interviews with the coaches, Fedko is a more complete hitter at this point among the freshmen like Ben Maycock and Matt Bonvicini. At the beginning of the season all three were said to be in the mix for possible time at the DH spot, but Fedko got first dibs among the three and has done enough with the bat to keep the job up to now.

However, I think Fedko may start losing at least some of his DH time to Thad Phillips, who got a chance to play due to Susi's injury, and did what he could in these last few games to impress the coaching staff, that is hit like a ton of bricks. That is the general prescription for a new or bench player under Coach Penders to get playing time, get hot with the bat and keep hitting. That is how Willy Yahn did it when he was a freshman, he got a chance to start in a mid March game. Yahn hit in the first game he started and never stopped hitting, thus he stayed in the lineup

The coaches love Maycock's power potential. I get the idea that at this point he just doesn't not make enough contact. As for his fielding, they like his speed and arm, but lacks polish in the field, and the coaches don't trust him there yet. Anthony Nucerino, who has a better fielding reputation, got some time in the right field in place of Feldstein for a few games. As for Bonvicini, the coaches compared him to Bobby Melley in terms of his hitting style and potential. Problem for Bonvicini is that his glove needs some work before he can be trusted to play 1B in a game.

The real "problem" is that in terms of depth, this could be potentially the most quality players that Penders has had on a team in quite some time, and that glues both Maycock and Benvicini to the bench. I'm thinking Maycock may get a good chance at a starting job next season when Feldstein and possibly Toppa (through the draft) are gone from the team. However, for this season it looks like Maycock is going to have to sit, watch, and learn.

 

[BigJim84]

Pretty clean game for the most part. If we pitch like that, we will win most of our New England games.

Hitting was pretty weak today, save for the 10th inning.

I was at the game, really cold with the wind blowing in from left, toufgh to hit in these conditions.

 

[gtcam]

Well, closer than I thought but IMHO - they lose that game last year
One New England roadblock out of the way

 

[huskymedic]

Poor Chris Jones - wonder if he thawed out yet...

 

[huskymedic]