19 UConn baseball players compete in summer league action
Two Husky pitchers played for the Cape Cod league champions this summer.
With about a week until the school year starts, two of UConn baseball’s arms ride into Storrs with a title, as Jack Sullivan and Brady Afthim won the championship in the Cape Cod Baseball League, widely considered the top collegiate wood bat summer league in the nation, with the Bourne Braves on Sunday night.
Afthim, a rising junior, was one of the Huskies’ key relievers in 2023. He was second on the team in appearances and held hitters to a .205 batting average while he was on the mound. He reprised this role for the Braves, as he pitched 15 innings over nine regular-season appearances, surrendering just three runs for a 1.80 ERA. He struck out 15 hitters and permitted a .222 batting average against.
He contributed 3 2/3 innings over a pair of appearances in the postseason and didn’t pitch as well, with a 9.81 ERA, but he did give good innings for Bourne, pitching two in Game 2 of the championship series against Orleans.
Another rising junior, Sullivan took a step back as a full-time starter to start the 2023 season after a strong freshman year, managing a 5.28 ERA, while batters hit .324 against him, with 34 strikeouts against 16 walks in 44 1/3 innings.
Pitching in relief for Bourne, Sullivan’s strikeout-to-walk ratios were in line with his regular season, with a 7.61 ERA in 13 innings of work. His only work in the postseason was in mop-up duty.
Two other UConn pitchers were important cogs for a playoff team in Falmouth.
Rising senior Garrett Coe was a key reliever, with a 0.91 ERA in 19 2/3 innings of work, including an all-star nod. He gave up two runs on three hits and two walks in his first outing, but his following eight appearances totaled 17 2/3 innings of shutout ball, with 10 hits and 17 strikeouts against seven walks.
He was joined on the Commodores by Stephen Quigley. He made four appearances, throwing 9 1/3 innings with a 3.85 ERA after joining the team on July 14.
Matt Garbowski played in one game for Chatham, going 0-for-3 with a strikeout, while Korey Morton was activated by Wareham on July 16 and played 11 regular season games. He was 2-for-27 with four RBI, five walks and 15 strikeouts. Drew Kron also walked in one plate appearance for Yarmouth-Dennis, in addition to his more full-time role with the Mystic Schooners of the NECBL, in which he hit .289/.330/.337 in 89 plate appearances.
Paul Tammaro, who exhausted his eligibility in 2023, had 31 plate appearances in June for Bourne and was released when players that went deeper into the NCAA Tournament were able to return.
Afthim and Sullivan weren’t the only players to earn rings, as Luke Broadhurst was part of the FCBL champion Norwich Sea Unicorns as a coach. The first baseman has one year of eligibility remaining and will use it in 2024, but wanted to get his feet wet coaching for the first time.
A rising sophomore, Niko Brini also took home a title, as the Newport Gulls won the NECBL. He was a regular, hitting .261/.375/.318 in 104 plate appearances as an outfielder, but was among his team’s most valuable hitters in the playoffs, with a .400/.500/.400 slash line in five contests, including matching 2-for-4 performances in the championship series.
Jude Abbadessa and Braden Quinn each pitched in the NECBL, for Mystic and Danbury, respectively. Abbadessa pitched to a 3.00 ERA in 21 innings, striking out nearly a batter an inning, while Quinn was leaned on heavily as a starter. He was third in the league in innings pitched and had a 2.46 ERA, with 53 strikeouts to 11 walks.