UConn @ University of Texas 2/24 @5p ET, 2/25 @3p ET, 2/26 @1pET)

[huskymedic]

UConn Baseball ‏@UConnBaseball 5h 5 hours ago
Is it Friday Yet? First trip to @Texas_Baseball for #UConn!
Previous three meetings have been in the College World Series ('79,'72, '57).

 

[Baseballguy]

I did some homework on Texas and it seems they are a similar program to UCONN as far as talent goes. Nobody on their team really sticks out as a superstar based on last years numbers. They are returning 4 of the 5 most productive offensive pieces. They also have all 3 starting pitchers back as well.
-Mathis is their offensive power leader, leading the team in slugging percentage with .477 and homeruns with 6 last year. The best comparison to him would be Bobby Melley without the same pop. To compare Mathis had a similar batting average but hit 5 less homeruns and his slugging percentage was 50 points lower.
-Clemens is almost indentical to Mathis in terms of offensive production. He slugged .470 and hit 5 homers.
-Rand and Jones are the biggest threats on the basepaths with 14 and 7 stolen bases respectively. The difference is Jones provided much more at the plate than Rand.
-Their starting pitchers didn't light up the stat sheet last year. Based on their numbers it's hard to determine who the best of the batch is. All 3 starters finished with a 3.60 ERA or higher. The opponent batting average against were .246 or higher. All 3 pitchers feature solid strikeout numbers with the leader being 9.4 strikeouts per nine. While they have solid strikeout numbers they also seem to have trouble finding the strike zone with 2 of the 3 averaging 4 walks or more a game. To compare Cate and Montgomerie together had a 2.88 ERA, 10.8 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 while neither one allowed a BAA above .237.
-As far as what they feature behind the plate was a little difficult to determine because the starting catcher no longer on the team. I assume Cantu is the starter this year. With his limited reps behind the dish he was able to throw out 31% of runners. To give a benchmark to compare that to, Susi threw out 25%

 

[dbmill]

I did some homework on Texas and it seems they are a similar program to UCONN as far as talent goes. Nobody on their team really sticks out as a superstar based on last years numbers. They are returning 4 of the 5 most productive offensive pieces. They also have all 3 starting pitchers back as well.
-Mathis is their offensive power leader, leading the team in slugging percentage with .477 and homeruns with 6 last year. The best comparison to him would be Bobby Melley without the same pop. To compare Mathis had a similar batting average but hit 5 less homeruns and his slugging percentage was 50 points lower.
-Clemens is almost indentical to Mathis in terms of offensive production. He slugged .470 and hit 5 homers.
-Rand and Jones are the biggest threats on the basepaths with 14 and 7 stolen bases respectively. The difference is Jones provided much more at the plate than Rand.
-Their starting pitchers didn't light up the stat sheet last year. Based on their numbers it's hard to determine who the best of the batch is. All 3 starters finished with a 3.60 ERA or higher. The opponent batting average against were .246 or higher. All 3 pitchers feature solid strikeout numbers with the leader being 9.4 strikeouts per nine. While they have solid strikeout numbers they also seem to have trouble finding the strike zone with 2 of the 3 averaging 4 walks or more a game. To compare Cate and Montgomerie together had a 2.88 ERA, 10.8 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 while neither one allowed a BAA above .237.
-As far as what they feature behind the plate was a little difficult to determine because the starting catcher no longer on the team. I assume Cantu is the starter this year. With his limited reps behind the dish he was able to throw out 31% of runners. To give a benchmark to compare that to, Susi threw out 25%

Nice research. Just a quick Zac Susi note. If my memory serves (and it doesn't always as I get older), last year Susi's game improved markedly as the season wore on, particularly behind the plate. In addition to blocking balls in the dirt much better as last season wore on, he was throwing out a lot more stolen base attempts later on than he did at the beginning of the season. I'm guessing Susi was definitely better than 25% in the second half of the season.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Cantu is apparently pretty bad, looking at Texas message boards.

We're catching them at the right time. Texas made an awesome hire with Pierce.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[uconnbaseball]

Toppa was cleared to DH, which will bolster this lineup nicely.

 

[Baseballguy]

I thought that Feole was a shoo in as the Sunday starter this week. It seems as if Penders values experience in this case. I agree considering big games like these can really speed up on a young pitcher, not to say that is the case for Mason. Also Penders brief comments on Ronnie makes me believe that he may be worried about Ronnie's ability to give multiple quality appearances out of the pen on weekend series.

 

[dbmill]

As Penders says, everyone is entitled to one bad outing, and that certainly includes Doug Domnarski. By all accounts he had an excellent fall and preseason Mason Feole started last weekend because they had a fourth game to play. In my time following UConn baseball, I don't recall any freshman being a weekend starter from the first weekend onward. Usually it seems that a talented freshman pitcher will get moved into a weekend rotation spot sometime during March.

The other thing I wonder about waiting to March to move a freshman pitcher into the weekend starting rotation. Is this move a method of limiting the number of innings a starting freshman pitcher may throw during the course of their first season, an inning count as opposed to a pitch count?

 

[huskymedic]

Baseballl Travels to Austin to Challenge Longhorns

Friday, Feb. 24 at Texas 5:00 p.m. (ET)
UFCU Disch-Falk Field
(Tim Cate (1-0) vs. TBA)

Saturday, Feb. 25 at Texas 3:00 p.m. (ET)
UFCU Disch-Falk Field
(Wills Montgomerie (1-0) vs. TBA)

Sunday, Feb. 26 at Texas 1:00 p.m. (ET). UFCU Disch-Falk Field
(Doug Domnarski (0-1) vs. TBA)

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

UFCU Disch-Falk Field Official seating capacity of 6,756

Another view: University of Texas at Austin Baseball

 

[dbmill]

I love that promo from the Longhorn Network!

 

[Baseballguy]

I'd love to see more of these videos. UCONN does a pretty mediocre job promoting the baseball team, despite being a very successful program. It would be cool if they were able to do videos of upcoming opponents and player bios to get a little more recognition locally.

 

[huskymedic]

I'd love to see more of these videos. UCONN does a pretty mediocre job promoting the baseball team, despite being a very successful program. It would be cool if they were able to do videos of upcoming opponents and player bios to get a little more recognition locally.

Agree but much, much better now w/ Chris Jones... need to push out/promote their social media sites a bit more globally.

 

[dbmill]

I'd love to see more of these videos. UCONN does a pretty mediocre job promoting the baseball team, despite being a very successful program. It would be cool if they were able to do videos of upcoming opponents and player bios to get a little more recognition locally.

Agree but much, much better now w/ Chris Jones... need to push out/promote their social media sites a bit more globally.

As has been mentioned before, Chris Jones has been a great informational source on UConn baseball. I think Jim Penders should be mentioned as well, with all the interviews that he does with Jones after games and at other times as well. These interviews he does provide a lot of information on the team. This is one thing Penders predates Jones on, as he was doing post game interviews on WHUS for a couple of years before Jones came on the UConn baseball scene. Another reason these WHUS interviews stand out is that none of the other Olympic sport coaches at UConn do this. For instance WHUS has been carrying men's and women's soccer for years. I think the next time Ray Reid or Len Tsantiris do a post game interview on WHUS would be the first time it happened. I think Penders knows it is a good promotional tool.

 

[huskymedic]

UFCU Disch-Falk Field Official seating capacity of 6,756
View attachment 20050

Another view: University of Texas at Austin Baseball

 

[dbmill]

Recently I was checking out online the Texas Longhorns ballpark, when I came across references to their prior playing site, Clark Field. Being interested in old ballparks, I looked it up on Wikipedia, and found a very strange baseball facility that featured a hill/cliff that was in the field of play:

Clark Field (1928) - Wikipedia

"Clark Field was unusual because there was a 12- to 30-foot (9.1 m) limestone cliff that ran from left-center to center field that made playing the outfield adventurous. The cliff could only be accessed via a goat path in the left-center field. Center field was nicknamed "Billy Goat Hill."[2] There was a scoreboard on top of the hill in the field in front of the fence that could cause even more weird bounces for outfielders. Clearly, this gave the Longhorns a home field advantage over visiting teams. For example, the Longhorns could easily get an inside-the-park home run when a ball was hit in the direction of the cliff because the opposing outfielders were perplexed by its caroms and how to make plays by using the cliff. Longhorn outfielders could typically hold batters to a double or triple because of their familiarity with the cliff. Half of the team's outfielders purportedly chose to play on top while the other half chose to play in front of the cliff."

Here's a photo from Wikipedia of the field, with the cliff in full view

Clark Field, with the famous goat path and hill visible in the outfield. LBJ Library can be seen in the background, to the east/southeast.Memorial Stadium is just out of frame, located behind the right field wall.

 

[dbmill]

Here's another article on Clark Field with a couple more photos:

The Coffee Shop Times - Clark Field, The University of Texas

Old Clark Field, The University of Texas:
Posted by Douglas Barricklow on November 5, 2015 in The Coffee Shop Times

From 1928 until 1974, The University of Texas boasted one of the most visually interesting baseball parks in the country.

Clark Field.

The limestone outcrops and cliffs of Austin, Texas — and westward into the Texas Hill Country — are distinctive and beautiful. Only recently did I stumble upon a photo depicting their presence across the outfield of my alma mater’s old baseball diamond.

The face of the outcrop varied from 12-to-30-feet in height — a home field advantage if there ever was one. Opposing teams couldn’t possibly anticipate the odd bounces off of the limestone as well as could the Longhorns.

Meanwhile, the scoreboard sat atop “Billy Goat Hill.”

Hits landing on the hill were considered in play. And the Texas players knew best how to reach them in a hurry.

It wasn’t uncommon for two, UT outfielders to position themselves atop and behind the cliff — with the other two remaining below.

The University of Texas won 37 Southwest Conference baseball championships while calling Clark Field home. Plus, two College World Series championships.

Bonus Fun Fact: It’s said that Lou Gehrig hit a 550-foot home run far over “Billy Goat Hill” during a 1930 exhibition game.

 

[huskymedic]

Baseballl Travels to Austin to Challenge Longhorns

Friday, Feb. 24 at Texas 5:00 p.m. (ET)
UFCU Disch-Falk Field
(Tim Cate (1-0) vs. TBA)

Saturday, Feb. 25 at Texas 3:00 p.m. (ET)
UFCU Disch-Falk Field
(Wills Montgomerie (1-0) vs. TBA)

Sunday, Feb. 26 at Texas 1:00 p.m. (ET). UFCU Disch-Falk Field
(Doug Domnarski (0-1) vs. TBA)

Texas Preview: Baseball preview: vs. UCONN [Feb 24-26]
Texas Game Notes: Texas Longhorns Athletics - 0224_UCONN.pdf

>>PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS?
FRIDAY—UCONN LHP Tim Cate (1-0, 0.00) vs. Texas RHP Morgan Cooper (0-0, 3.00)
SATURDAY—UCONN RHP Wills Montgomerie (1-0, 3.00) vs. Texas RHP Kyle Johnston (1-0, 1.50)
SUNDAY—UCONN LHP Doug Domnarski (0-1, 54.00) vs. Texas RHP Blair Henley (1-0, 1.80)<<

Also forgot there are two Clemens (Kacy/Kody) in the starting line-up.

 

[uconnbaseball]

4 hours away, hype! A shame I will be at work.

 

[ct06111]

Not @ home right now. I searched xfinity in central CT last night and couldn't find LHN.

You can get longhorn network though ESPN3 right?

I don't have ESPN app on my phone and don't want it.

I have ESPN3 thru my xboxone and want to watch this game @ 5 and UConn MHOC play @ UNH on ESPN3 @ 7

Both games should be on ESPN3, correct?
TIA.

 

[huskymedic]

Not @ home right now. I searched xfinity in central CT last night and couldn't find LHN.

You can get longhorn network though ESPN3 right?

I don't have ESPN app on my phone and don't want it.

I have ESPN3 thru my xboxone and want to watch this game @ 5 and UConn MHOC play @ UNH on ESPN3 @ 7

Both games should be on ESPN3, correct?
TIA.

I don't believe Xfinity/Comcast carries the LHN: Frequently Asked Questions about the Longhorn Network and
Longhorn Network is available with these providers. Looks like it might be available if you have subscription to HuskyVision

 

[Bezzz]

Not @ home right now. I searched xfinity in central CT last night and couldn't find LHN.

You can get longhorn network though ESPN3 right?

I don't have ESPN app on my phone and don't want it.

I have ESPN3 thru my xboxone and want to watch this game @ 5 and UConn MHOC play @ UNH on ESPN3 @ 7

Both games should be on ESPN3, correct?
TIA.

It is listed on ESPN3 at 5:00.

 

[huskymedic]

It is listed on ESPN3 at 5:00.

... but you have to have a cable provider sign-in and Comcast/Xfinity isn't an option - correct?

I have Xfinity/Comcast and it's not even listed on the ESPN3 schedule in my area.

 

[Bezzz]

Huh. I have Comcast internet (no cable) and I've watched UCMBB and UCWBB on ESPN3 with the watch ESPN app on my Firestick/TV. Yeah, I think I had to sign in with Comcast credentials way back when.
Just checked, the game is listed on ESPN3 on my desktop but not on the Firestick app.