Diagnosing UConn baseball's early season issues
The Huskies have had a less-than-ideal start to the season.
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What’s up with UConn baseball?
UConn’s start to the season has certainly been less than ideal, but to understand just how bad, we have to take a trip back in time.
The Huskies were 3-9 in their first 12 games, which was their worst 12-game start since 2007 — the year the iPhone was announced, Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union, Rihanna’s hit single “Umbrella” was released, and current head coach Jim Penders was a spry 35 years old coaching his fourth season for the Huskies.
UConn baseball finished 34-27 that year, finishing eighth in the Big East with a 10-14 conference record. Nine NCAA Tournament appearances and two Super Regionals later, the Huskies are in a much different place as a program from the early days of Penders’ tenure, but to get back there, they have some things to clean up on both sides of the field. The Huskies have a minus-23 run differential, a .216 team average and 6.14 team ERA.
UConn’s stars, the players expected to show up day in and day out, have gotten off to hot starts to the season. Korey Morton, Paul Tammaro and Ryan Daniels are all batting over .270 on the year, and Jake Studley has brought the power with four home runs and two doubles.
Conversely, a few of the newcomers to the starting lineup haven’t hit the ground running. Tyler Minick has understandably been slow to start his freshman season, rotating at third base with Bryan Padilla, with just four hits in 34 at-bats. Similarly, Matt Malcolm, brought in from ECSU to shore up the designated hitter spot, has started the season hitting .231.
The newcomers aren’t the only members of the lineup struggling. T.C. Simmons, Maddix Dalena and Ryan Daniels, three returning contributors from 2023, have combined to bat 12-for-85 on the year.
More concerning than the lineup struggles, however, has been the collapse of the starting pitching staff.
UConn’s weekend starters coming into the year — Ian Cooke, Garrett Coe and Stephen Quigley — have combined for a 6.61 ERA, and UConn starters have gotten out of the fifth inning in just six out of 15 games this year. A struggling starting pitching staff leads to a strained bullpen, which makes it hard for them to rack up wins.
Luckily, in the past few games, newcomers have shown signs of dragging the starting staff from their prolonged slump. Endicott transfer Gabe Van Emon impressed with a seven inning, one-run performance with five strikeouts and no walks in a narrow loss to UC Santa Barbara, while freshman Ben Schild anchored a 5-0 shutout of UC Irvine with a six-inning, one-hit performance with nine strikeouts to just two walks.
Around the Big East
RPI doesn’t become viable for comparing teams until mid-April, so this section will be reserved for looking at how each of UConn’s conference opponents have performed in their respective weekend series since we last saw them last week.
Butler
Butler probably would have liked to sweep the weekend after taking down Memphis on Friday, but splitting with Jackson State and Presbyterian for a winning record will do. The Bulldogs are just 6-7 and will start their weekend series against Bradley on Thursday, with no midweek games.
Creighton
At 12-2, Creighton is having a hot start to the season. Portland snapped a five-game Bluejay winning streak to stave off a weekend sweep on Sunday, but they rebounded with a win over Omaha in the midweek. San Francisco comes to town this weekend as part of a 10-game homestand.
Georgetown
The Hoyas were only able to play two against Cornell, but still won both games by a cumulative 44-6, putting up a 20-spot each game of a Sunday doubleheader. Georgetown also went on the road twice in the midweek, taking down George Washington and Delaware. Albany is on tap for three this weekend as the Hoyas try to improve on a 10-6 record.
St. John’s
St. John’s is riding a seven-game winning streak as the Red Storm swept Hofstra over the weekend, then hosted LIU and Stony Brook for midweek victories. Look for that winning streak to get longer and the 10-4 record to get better as Rider will be on Utopia Parkway for three games this weekend.
Seton Hall
North Florida took two of three from Seton Hall over the weekend, but the Pirates were able to get back in the win column with a victory over NJIT on Tuesday and St. Peter’s on Wednesday. In an interesting twist, Seton Hall was the designated road team but was closer than NJIT to the site of the game. Stony Brook will be in South Orange this weekend.
Xavier
Xavier was able to stave off the sweep against No. 2 LSU over the weekend, but wasn’t able to beat Wright State in the midweek. At just 8-9, the Musketeers will have a tough test as Indiana State will be coming to town this weekend.
Villanova
Malibu was kind to Villanova, as the Wildcats swept Pepperdine by a combined 20-3 last weekend, though Penn secured a win in the midweek. Villanova, with a 5-9 record, is back on the road to East Tennessee State for three this weekend.
Non-conference opponents
California is up to 11-3 and opened the Pac-12 schedule with a sweep over UCLA, which was a strong result after a hiccup last weekend in Las Vegas, with an 0-2 record in the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic.
No. 19 Auburn opens SEC play against No. 10 Vanderbilt this weekend, but took two of three from Austin Peay last weekend and knocked off Troy in the midweek.
UC Santa Barbara, which is just outside the top 25, had its midweek game canceled due to a medical emergency at the stadium. The Gauchos, which are 9-5, open Big West play against Long Beach State this weekend.
Cal Baptist comes into this weekend’s series winners of four straight after opening up WAC play with a series sweep over Seattle and earned a win over USC in the midweek. The Lancers are 12-5 on the season.
Rutgers looks to stop its four-game losing streak after a two-game midweek sweep against No. 13 North Carolina as the Scarlet Knights travel to Delaware this weekend.
The Week Ahead
Friday: at Cal Baptist, 9 p.m., ESPN+
Saturday: at Cal Baptist, 8 p.m., ESPN+
Sunday: at Cal Baptist, 3 p.m., ESPN+
Tuesday: at Rhode Island, 3 p.m., ESPN+
Wednesday: LIU, 2:05 p.m., UConn+
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