UConn players and Summer Baseball

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UConn Baseball@UConnBaseball1 hour ago
Congrats to @AaronHill_SS6 (Mystic Schooners) and @samnepiarsky (New Bedford Bay Sox) on All-Star nods! #HookC
NECBL Unveils 2016 All-Star Game Rosters | New England Collegiate Baseball League

Considering how well Aaron Hill has done with the bat in his three summers with Mystic, my wife has suggested half jokingly several times this summer that he might want to consider using a wooden bat for his final season at UConn.

 

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It's getting late in the summer college league seasons, but here's another one:

Victor RailRiders (Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League) - Keith Krueger

Surprised to find Krueger in a league based in upstate New York, I figured he'd be playing in out west somewhere.

 

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The Norwich Bulletin ran a feature today on Aaron Hill, playing locally this summer with the Mystic Schooners. Among other things, the story mentions that Hill is the first player in the history of the New England Collegiate Baseball League to play in three All-Star games with the same team. The article also talks about how Hill hits so well in the summer leagues and his extended slumps while playing at UConn, and how he is finally making adjustments to hopefully correct that.

Former Fitch standout playing with chip on shoulder for Mystic Schooners

I've found that Bulletin website can be rather clunky, so hopefully this link will work.

 

[huskymedic]

Willy Yahn has been named to the Cape Cod League All Star team.



Cape League
@Official_CCBL
Ladies and gentlemen, your #CapeLeague2016 All-Star teams!pic.twitter.com/Ss4KSvuU0Y
8:22 AM - 16 Jul 2016

 

[Husky25]

And two "UConn Huskies" chants.

 

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The UConn athletics website has posted an update on various Huskies involved in the summer college leagues:

Husky Summer Ball Update: Part I

 

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For those that did not yet check out the story on the UConn athletics website, here are some of the highlights I think that are of note on some of the Huskies playing in summer college leagues.

Five players have been selected by their league as All-Stars. Aaron Hill, Sam Nepiarsky, Dan Rajkowski, and Willy Yahn have all had their selections mentioned in this thread. Andrew Zapata was also selected as an All Star by the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League (ACBL), despite having an ERA of over 5.00.

Ronnie Rossomando has done very well pitching out of the Bourne Braves bullpen (he doesn't have any starts). He has pitched 19.0 innings, gave up 13 hits, striking out 23, 7 walks, and possessing an ERA of 1.89. Given that the Cape Cod League is considered to be at the top of the food chain among summer college leagues, it could very well be a great leap forward in terms of Rossomando harnessing his natural pitching gifts.

By contrast, Randy Polonia has not pitched much with the Bristol Blues of the Futures League. Polonia's control problems seem to have followed him to the Futures League, having given up 6 walks in 3 innings, with an ERA of 9.00.

I have heard that the UConn coaching staff is very high on incoming freshman shortstop Anthony Prato, something I heard well before Prato started hitting .316 in 23 games with the Staten Island Tide of the ACBL.

Another UConn infield prospect who has been doing well is freshman Jack Lambrecht, who was redshirted due to an injury that required Tommy John surgery. Lambrecht has hit .300 with some power in his stint with the Brockton Rox. However, Lambrecht's playing time has been limited due to at least two stints on the disabled list. I don't know if these stays on the disabled list are related to his previous injury and/or surgery.

And finally, there is incoming UConn freshman pitcher Mason Feole playing for Worcester of the Futures League. In an article I read about Feole a couple of months ago, UConn pitching coach Josh McDonald told Feole's high school coach that he might be the top prospect for 2016 in New England. Feole has showed something of this in his four starts for Worcester, having pitched 21.0 innings with 24 strikeouts to go with an ERA of 1.71.

 

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Here's a bit more on Randy Polonia and the Bristol Blues picking him up after his short stint with the Danbury Westerners of the NECBL

Ben Brown, Randy Polonia ready to stabilize Blues’ bullpen

 

[Baseballguy]

Here's a bit more on Randy Polonia and the Bristol Blues picking him up after his short stint with the Danbury Westerners of the NECBL

Ben Brown, Randy Polonia ready to stabilize Blues’ bullpen

I watched Randy pitch for the Blues on Sunday. It was more of what we saw at the end of last year. He face 3 batters, walked 2 and hit 1. Many of his pitches were nowhere near the strike zone. I hope he turns it around by the time UConn baseball starts again because we will desperately need Domnarski, CJ and him to shut out teams in the late innings.

 

[Stainmaster]

I watched Randy pitch for the Blues on Sunday. It was more of what we saw at the end of last year. He face 3 batters, walked 2 and hit 1. Many of his pitches were nowhere near the strike zone. I hope he turns it around by the time UConn baseball starts again because we will desperately need Domnarski, CJ and him to shut out teams in the late innings.

Especially considering he's the only guy on the roster with any closing experience. If he doesn't pull it together, who are we throwing out there in the 9th? Rivera? Domnarski? Poulin?

 

[Baseballguy]

Especially considering he's the only guy on the roster with any closing experience. If he doesn't pull it together, who are we throwing out there in the 9th? Rivera? Domnarski? Poulin?

I was told that Penders was going to get CJ some reps as closer if Randy couldn't get it together, although Domnarski would be very good in that spot as well

 

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Especially considering he's the only guy on the roster with any closing experience. If he doesn't pull it together, who are we throwing out there in the 9th? Rivera? Domnarski? Poulin?

I was told that Penders was going to get CJ some reps as closer if Randy couldn't get it together, although Domnarski would be very good in that spot as well

I think CJ Dandeneau would be a pretty good fall back option as closer if Polonia doesn't get his pitching act together. He generally shows pretty good control, and I like that out of a closer.

I have my own candidate for the closer role, although I don't expect it to happen, as I'm sure everyone including Coach Penders has Ronnie Rossomando as being in next season's weekend starting rotation. While he hasn't been a closer, Ronnie Rossomando has been terrific out of the bullpen for the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod League. I have to think at this point that based on his performance this summer that Rossomando has a certain comfort level being used in relief, so I wouldn't mind giving him a try at the spot.

That of course would open up a weekend starting spot. Doug Domnarski has been starting and doing well for the Mystic Schooners, so he could be a possibility. The guy that intrigues me for a possible starting spot is incoming freshman Mason Feole, who I wrote about a few posts ago. If Feole continues to do well this summer and into the fall season at UConn, that could make things interesting as I seriously doubt Rossomando will be used as a middle of the week starter.

 

[huskymedic]

Yahn Picks Up Prestigious Cape League Honor

 

[Husky25]

Yahn filled up the stat box score at the CCBL All-Star Game.

 

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The UConn Blog has its own season recap of the UConn players who played in the various summer collegiate baseball leagues:

UConn Baseball in the Summer: Season Recap