vs. UCF

[ATLDYKA]

Game 1 - nice win 5-4. Bullpen shakey as Mahaney struggles again but Kay saves the game.
Game 2 - 5-3 lead in the 9th. Mahaney once again comes in and walks his only batter. 2nd and 3rd 2outs and 2 strikes a grounder in the hole to Siena he decides to lolly pop it over to first and not only does the runner beat it out but the runner from second scores on an infield hit. Another 9th inning blown lead. 5-5 going to bottom of 9th.

I would bench Siena right there!!

 

[ATLDYKA]

Verdi comes up clutch in the bottom of the 9th. After sounding like he got screwed on a ball that appeared to be fair down the line which gets called foul, he comes back 2 pitches later and rips it down the line fair scoring Sundberg for the 6-5 victory and clinching an AAC birth in the tourney. Funny thing is they now can finish as high as a five seed.

 

[dbmill]

Verdi has gotten back to his old self, and it is nice to see. Nice doubleheader sweep by UConn. The big news is that Anthony Kay came out of the bullpen as the closer in both games. Sounded like he pitched quite well in both stints. I really liked the idea of putting Kay back in the pen, I just wish I had suggested it earlier. UConn in recent years has done well with bullpens where Coach Penders can rely on several pitchers that he can feel comfortable with in bringing them into tight situations late in the game. That way nobody gets overworked and you can work around pitching slumps when they occur. UConn has not had that since early in the season when first Zapata, then Kay went into the starting rotation. You very well may see both these guys coming out of the pen for the AAC tourney.

I also like how Penders handled Mahaney today. Mahaney has had too much success the last couple of years just to give up on him. He has been a huge part of the success of the bullpen in that time. Still, you can't afford to have him continue to cost you games as well. In the first game, Penders took him out after walking two batters. In the second game, Mahaney came out after walking one hitter. Before these games Penders would have left him for several more batters. But at least Penders is giving him a chance to find success again, even if it is only for a brief look. I agree with Chris Jones here, that in order to win the AAC tourney, you are going to need Mahaney to find success again.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Yes, like the way Verdi has come on strong lately, just in time for tourney. I agree, Kay and Zapata will be big out of the pen for the tourney as with Ward pitching well lately it gives them more flexibility.
Should be interesting to see who starts today, may be a staff day as just about everyone has pitched as recent as Tuesday.

 

[huskymedic]

Senior Day:

Sundberg - CF
Verdi - SS
Davey - RF
Melley - 1B
McDowell - C
Daniello - 3B
Darras - DH
Siena - 2B
Testani - LF
Brown - P

 

[ATLDYKA]

The positive is that this team seems to be showing fight and battling a tough UCF team. However still making boneheaded plays. After cutting into a 7-4 deficit and making it 7-6. They had 1st and 3rd and 1 out and Darras decides to lay down I'm guessing a safety squeze however they get the runner coming home and to double up a bad thing Darras then gets caught between 1st and 2nd for a double play. Come on already, bunting continues to be a negative for this team. You don't bunt with a guy on 2nd and no outs in extra innings the other day but you do there?
Walks are what are hurting our pitchers today.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Well couldn't have asked for a better chance to win. Bottom of the 9th down 7-6 bases loaded 1 out and your best hitter Melley up. Unfortunately he grounds into a DP to end the game.
Many positives from the series however. The bats seem to be coming alive. They got some good bullpen action from Mahaney and Over today.
They fought hard and took 2 out of 3 and hopefully it carries over to tourney.

 

[huskymedic]

Game Notes
- The Huskies conclude the regular season at 26-29, and 9-16 in The American. UConn will be the 6th, 7th or 8th seed in the upcoming Conference Championship, depending on other league outcomes.
- Bobby Melley and Bryan Daniello each recorded their 21st multi-hit games of the season, tied with Blake Davey for the most of any Husky.
- Melley also recorded his 11th game of at least three hits.
- Max Slade’s 3.2 innings pitched were a season-high
- Max McDowell is now hitting .413 (26-for-63) with runners in scoring position in 2014

 

[dbmill]

Well, game 3 was a staff day for UConn, and for me it is big positive to be in the game fighting to the end on one of these type of days. You ordinarily don't expect to see Callahan Brown starting a conference game at this point in his career. Bullpen did well, especially Mahaney and Over. Seems that Slade did ok after he settled down.

Marzi and Tabakman will no doubt get starts at the AAC tourney. With the way Ward has been going, I'm inclined to let him go in game 3, and have Kay and Zapata come out of the pen.