Men UConn @ Pepperdine University Waves (Fri. 3/11/22 @ 5p (ET) , Sat. 3/12/22 @ 4p (ET) & Sun. 3/13/22 @ 4p (ET)) All games on WCC Network (Free)/MIXLR

[huskymedic]

 

[ATLDYKA]

Maybe I jinxed Padilla

 

[dbmill]

O'Donnell gives up an rbi single to the first batter he sees, 6-2 now the score with no outs. He didn't get the lefty out, Ian Cooke coming in to pitch.

 

[businesslawyer]

Somebody get someone out please.

 

[dbmill]

Ian Cooke gives up a single to the first batter he faces, then strikes out the next 2 batters and gets a ground out to end the inning, stranding 2 runners. 6-2 UConn.

 

[dbmill]

Top 9th, UConn offense goes down 1-2-3.

 

[dbmill]

Bottom 9th, Cooke on the mound to start the inning.

 

[dbmill]

Bottom 9th, Cooke with a scoreless inning after giving up a 1 out walk, UConn gets the 6-2 win!!

Cooke with 3 strikeouts in his 2 inning stint.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Quality win vs a solid program. We appear to have the pitching advantage Sunday so we can put our foot to their throat with a win tomorrow.

 

[dbmill]

 

[huskymedic]

Bottom 9th, Cooke with a scoreless inning after giving up a 1 out walk, UConn gets the 6-2 win!!

Cooke with 3 strikeouts in his 2 inning stint.

 

[huskymedic]

Game Notes

• The Huskies have won its first eight true road games of the season. With records dating back to 1961, it is possibly the first time in program history that UConn has won its first eight true road games of a season.
• Ben Huber's grand slam was the first runs scored in the sixth inning this season for the Huskies.
• Erik Stock extended his hit streak to 22 games with his first inning double.
• The Huskies are 4-0 on Fridays this season.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

D1Baseball.com giving some attention to UConn at the beginning of their west coast trip:

UConn Gets West Coast Trek Off To Good Start • D1Baseball

A strong outing from ace Austin Peterson and a grand slam from Ben Huber lifted UConn past Pepperdine. Eric Sorenson reports on the 10-1 Huskies.

d1baseball.com

 

[huskymedic]

…. and Baseball America as well:




-> UConn Stays Hot on the Road with Win Against Pepperdine

As always, Connecticut has spent most of the first month of the season playing on the road, primarily against teams that had the benefit of plenty of outside practice time during the preseason and that haven’t had to leave home much to play games so far.

And as always, UConn is playing well in spite of that, with a 6-2 win over Pepperdine in Malibu on Friday moving the Huskies to 10-1 on the season.

Righthander Austin Peterson was excellent. He threw seven innings, giving up five hits and two runs with two walks and 11 strikeouts. For the season, he has a 1.82 ERA and 44 strikeouts compared to five walks in 24.2 innings.

Righthander Brandon Llewellyn kept Pepperdine (8-5) in the game as he matched Peterson zero for zero through five innings, but UConn broke through in the sixth on a grand slam off the bat of first baseman Ben Huber and then later added insurance in the eighth against lefthander Nathan Diamond on an RBI single for DH Kevin Ferrer and an RBI double off the bat of catcher Matt Donlan.

It’s still early, but so far, UConn is doing what it always does by piling up a bunch of wins on the road to begin the season as a foundation for a clear postseason resume come June. <-

 

[dbmill]

So Brown and Fedko are out, for now, unless someone else goes south or they get hot in cameos. Understand Brown, as he started horrifically offensively and defensively and Padilla has shocked everyone with the bat. Don't understand Fedko, as he has had so few at bats that he's two hits short of a good start, but Penders presumably knows what he's doing.

But I am bothered by a four year starter being benched so quickly. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Or they got hot in cameos. Sometimes these cameos can last for a career. I recall Willy Yahn got a midweek start in March during his freshman season, got hot and never came out of the lineup.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

D1Baseball.com giving some attention to UConn at the beginning of their west coast trip:

UConn Gets West Coast Trek Off To Good Start • D1Baseball

A strong outing from ace Austin Peterson and a grand slam from Ben Huber lifted UConn past Pepperdine. Eric Sorenson reports on the 10-1 Huskies.

d1baseball.com

D1’s Kendall Rogers:




-> 6 — UConn pitching shines against Pepperdine: It really shouldn’t surprise us at this point, but Josh MacDonald’s pitching staff continues to shine. The Huskies suffered a tough blow before the season when two-way star Reggie Crawford went down with a season-ending injury. However, they haven’t skipped much of a beat so far, improving to 10-1 on Friday with a 6-2 win over red-hot Pepperdine. Senior righthanded pitcher Austin Peterson dealt against the Waves, striking out one, walking two and allowing just two runs on five hits in seven innings of work. Ian Cooke was terrific out of the pen, too, with three strikeouts in two shutout innings. Ben Huber hit a grand slam to lead the Huskies’ offense. I continue to be ultra-impressed with UConn’s resilience as a program. <-

 

[dbmill]

The word for the day is "Poise". Coach Penders says Austin Peterson shows incredible poise on the mound, Peterson might have the best poise of any UConn pitcher Penders has coached.

Good words on Ian Cooke as well. Coach liked that after Cooke gave up a hard hit to the first batter he faced, he settled right down and was not rattled by it at all.

 

[huskypantz]

Kind of funny moment at the end of the broadcast yesterday - the announcers were praising the camera crew for gutting it out in the tough weather, which was “wind”. I didn’t feel too bad for them.

 

[dbmill]

Or they got hot in cameos. Sometimes these cameos can last for a career. I recall Willy Yahn got a midweek start in March during his freshman season, got hot and never came out of the lineup.

One more word about cameos. I seem to recall that Coach Penders has admitted in past interviews that he is quite willing to ride a hot hand, so to speak. The key really is on the player to produce when he is given the opportunity of getting playing time, especially if he is coming off the bench. Wiily Yahn took full advantage of it when he got his chance.

Playing well in these "cameos" pretty much earns you a ticket to getting more potential playing time. We'll see how far Bryan Padilla can go with it, but Chris Brown's bad start offensively and defensively out of the gate helped give Padilla the opportunity that he is currently getting. I would think Chris Brown will get another chance at some point, but some of that needs to be earned in practices and scrimmages in Storrs, the stuff that run of the mill fans such as you and me don't really have a chance to be exposed to.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Rdkid]

This might be the best defensive lineup if Brown gets back to form...

... and Bushling deserves props for moving around the infield.

 

[dbmill]

Chris Brown back in the lineup today at 3B, and with Padilla getting another day at SS, Bushling continues to roam around the infield and gets a day at 2B. David Smith moving to D.H. for this game. This could be setting up a pattern that with more games on the weekly docket starting on this road trip, various regulars may get the day off from the field and end up getting a day at the D.H. spot. We'll see about that.