Grading UConn baseball's season
How have the Huskies fared this year?
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Position grades one-third of the way through the season
Starting Pitching: C
The season started out looking like this would be a high grade, as Garrett Coe, Ian Cooke and Stephen Quigley each had strong outings against Indiana State, USF and Louisville. However, Cooke got four outs the following weekend against California and one against then-No. 22 Auburn, resulting in a demotion from the rotation.
Gabe Van Emon, his replacement, relieved him against the Tigers and threw 5 1/3 shutout innings, following it up with seven innings with just one run allowed against UC Santa Barbara. Coe also didn’t pitch well in the three weekends following his first start with 14 earned runs in 13 innings, but was effective in midweek relief against UCLA and had a complete-game shutout against Cal Baptist.
Quigley, the final weekend starter, hasn’t been going as deep into games as he might like, but he’s been consistently solid, aside from one blow-up performance against UC Santa Barbara. Joe Cinella and Ben Schild have started each of the weekend games. Schild was tremendous against UC Irvine but allowed four runs in two innings against LIU on Wednesday, while Cinnella has given a pair of good performances against UCLA and Rhode Island.
Overall, there’s more to be desired with regard to consistency, but starting pitching is not the reason the Huskies are where they are at this point of the season.
Relief pitching: B+
Newcomers have integrated in and delivered some clutch performances. Brady Afthim has had a propensity to hit batters, at four in just 6 2/3 innings, but he hasn’t allowed a run. Braden Quinn also has a .136 batting average against and 21 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings and leads the team in innings among exclusive relievers.
Cinella and Schild had had inconsistent relief performances, though Schild has been better as he hasn’t allowed a run in three of his four relief appearances. Cooke, while he didn’t pitch a full inning in his first three relief assignments, has been effective. He also gave length on Wednesday against LIU.
For the most part, the back end of the bullpen has been doing what it needs to do and helping hold down victories when they’re there for the taking.
Starting Lineup: D
There have been strong individual performances, but the lineup as a whole has been tough and hasn’t kept the Huskies in games. UConn slashes .232/.337/.382 as a team, which are in the bottom 30, 30 and 75, respectively, in the country. The team’s 4.5 runs per game is also in the bottom 30 of 295 teams.
Korey Morton (.333/.365/.556) and Paul Tammaro (.304/.448/.449) have each been solid performers, but the lineup hasn’t been long enough to keep threats alive and generate runs.
Matt Garbowski (.264/.361/.377) has been a positive force from behind the plate but is third on the team in batting average and fourth in on-base percentage. Nine Huskies have recorded more than 40 at-bats and five are hitting below .250, two of which are below .200. While Matt Malcom (.220/.347/.610) and Jake Studley (.250/.365/.486) each have five home runs and as a team, UConn is in the top 100 nationally with 25 home runs, but they haven’t been able to get runners on base or extra-base hits to keep sustainable rallies.
Infield/Outfield Defense: C
Defense is a lot harder to scout and track. The little things, like taking an efficient route to the ball and getting a good read in the outfield, won’t result in an error if not done well, but can make the difference between the end of the inning and a ball in the gap that puts a runner in scoring position or adds a run to the board.
Considering fielding percentage, which is hardly the end-all-be-all, the Huskies are slightly below average, at .965, which is part of the glut of teams between .965 and .970. UConn has plenty of speed in the outfield to help track down balls, while Paul Tammaro has been solid at shortstop and Bryan Padilla is a decent third baseman.
Defense has not been a reason the Huskies are where they are and hasn’t dragged them up from deeper depths to this point.
RPI Update
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
The Bulldogs played three high-scoring affairs against Bradley over the weekend but only secured victory once. During the midweek, they split games with Miami (OH) and Ball State. At 8-10, Butler will host Dayton for three this weekend.
Creighton
San Francisco snagged one win over the weekend, but Creighton won two of three and is still undefeated on a weekend basis, with winning record in each of the first five weekends this year. South Dakota State was no match in the midweek, running Creighton’s record to 15-3. A big series with Stanford in Palo Alto looms this weekend.
Georgetown
The Hoyas are a perfect 8-0 in Capital One Park as Georgetown swept Albany in dominant fashion last weekend, winning by a combined 40-13. However, a road loss to No. 11 Virginia snapped a seven-game winning streak. They’ll leave the friendly confines of Tysons, VA and go to Ohio State this weekend.
St. John’s
St. John’s is having a return to form, as the Red Storm swept Rider and then topped Manhattan and Wagner in the midweek to run their winning streak to 12 straight. They haven’t been playing the most arduous schedule through March and that extends to this weekend, as Fordham will travel across the Throgs Neck Bridge for three games.
Seton Hall
It was not a great weekend in South Orange, as Stony Brook took two of three from the Pirates, with Seton Hall salvaging the weekend with a 4-3 Sunday win. However, the Pirates beat NJIT and Monmouth in the midweek. UMass comes to town to face a 13-8 squad this weekend.
Xavier
Indiana State took two of three from Xavier last weekend, though Saturday and Sunday were both close contests. No. 7 Tennessee also took a big win in the midweek. The Musketeers, which sit at 9-12, will host VCU this weekend.
Villanova
Villanova secured a Sunday victory over East Tennessee State to stave off the sweep, but have won just one weekend this year, while St. Peter’s secured a win in the midweek. George Mason will host the Wildcats for three this weekend.
Non-conference opponents
Oregon took two of three from California over the weekend after the Golden Bears won 13-1 on Friday and beat San Francisco in the midweek.
No. 24 Auburn met a similar fate, as the then-No. 19 Tigers were swept handily by then-No. 10 Vanderbilt. No. 1 Arkansas looms this weekend.
Newly minted as a top-25 team, No. 22 UC Santa Barbara swept Long Beach State to open Big West play. The Gauchos will take the midweek off and travel to Cal Poly this weekend.
Cal Baptist returns to WAC play with a road trip to Tarleton State this weekend, following a 12-18 loss to Dartmouth in the midweek.
Delaware was kind to the Rutgers offense, as the Scarlet Knights scored 56 runs to the Blue Hens’ 26 in a three-game sweep. They also beat Lafayette and Rider in the midweek.
The Week Ahead
Friday: at Rutgers, 4 p.m., Big Ten+
Saturday: at Rutgers, 2 p.m., Big Ten+
Sunday: at Rutgers, 1 p.m., Big Ten+
Tuesday: Boston College, 3:05 p.m., UConn+
Wednesday: Northeastern, 3:05 p.m., UConn+
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