Is Ian Cooke back?
This year has looked remarkably like the past two for the right-hander.
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Can Ian Cooke buoy the UConn rotation?
It’s been a long, strange trip for senior right-handed pitcher Ian Cooke in his career. The new Milford product burst onto the scene as a freshman, but has battled through injuries and inconsistency since. He seems to be rounding into form, following the pattern of last season, in which he lost his spot in the starting rotation but still won Big East Pitcher of the Year honors after regaining his spot.
In his freshman season, Cooke allowed one run over his first 17 1/3 innings of collegiate ball, including 7 2/3 frames of shutout work over USC in his first career start. He was never quire able to crack the weekend rotation, but put together some strong performances and was named a freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, striking out nearly a batter an inning.
That earned him preseason conference pitcher of the year honors rolling into 2023, but he battled injuries throughout the season and finished with an ERA north of 5.50, though he still had flashes of a quality arm, with 60 strikeouts in 53 1/3 innings.
Healthy, he brought that potential into 2024, throwing six shutout innings against Louisville to open the season. However, he got just four outs against California only one against Auburn the following two weeks, resulting in Gabe Van Emon supplanting him in the rotation.
After some up-and-down relief appearances through non-conference games, he was called upon against Xavier after Van Emon allowed nine runs in 2 2/3 innings. He pitched 5 1/3 shutout frames and while the Huskies didn’t win the game, he saved the bullpen and enabled them to take the series.
The next week, UConn asked him of more and he delivered. This time, Van Emon only got four outs against St. John’s. He finished the contest, scattering a pair of hits and walks each over 7 2/3 shutout innings, registering 14 punchouts. He was back in the rotation against Georgetown the next week and from there, pitched five innings or more in four of his five starts. Three of those outings were quality starts and he rolled to Big East pitcher of the year honors.
This year has mirrored 2024 to this point. After four inconsistent starts in which he did not complete five innings or allow fewer than four runs, he was relegated to the bullpen. Four of his last five appearances have been three innings or more and in that stretch, he’s surrendered just three earned runs to cut his ERA from 12.96 to 7.59.
Against Georgetown over the weekend, he provided 6 1/3 valuable frames of late relief, getting the save in each of his outings. He struck out 12 Hoyas and permitted three baserunners in that span.
Like the senior, UConn is rounding into form, as well. The Huskies are winners of five-straight and are holding in the back end of the top 50 in RPI with five weekends left to go in the regular season. Oliver Pudvar has been a great revelation at the top of the rotation, but he’ll need some help if the team has some designs on getting back to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh consecutive time. Perhaps Cooke can do it for the second consecutive year.
RPI Update
UConn was at No. 47 in the RPI following last weekend’s sweep over Georgetown and influenced by a defeat over Boston College, the Huskies sit at No. 46 going into the weekend.
Jim Penders’ team heads into another RPI anchor series this weekend, hosting sub-200 Seton Hall. UConn lost RPI points with each win over the Hoyas last weekend and will do so again this weekend, with a loss pushing it even more down the rankings.
The Huskies have 20 regular season games remaining and just three Quad 1 opportunities, coming in two weeks against St. John’s. Eight of those contests are against sub-200 foes and Maine, against which UConn closes the regular season with three games, is at No. 195 and has the potential to fall further as it gets deeper into America East play.
UConn is 12-14 against Quads 1 and 2, which will buoy its at-large case should it not win the Big East Tournament, but the Huskies will need plenty of wins to get into the at-large picture.
Bracketology
Baseball America
UConn remains out of the field and St. John’s has Big East’s automatic bid. The Red Storm are the only ones from the league in the field, though Xavier is in the Next Four Out. The Huskies have faced hosts No. 5 North Carolina and No. 14 UCLA in single games, as well as 2-seed Vanderbilt and 3-seeds Duke, Northeastern and USC.
D1Baseball
The outlet concurs with Baseball America, with St. John’s winning a one-bid Big East. However, D1Baseball likes Xavier better, as the Musketeers are the fourth team out. UConn got single games in against No. 12 North Carolina and No. 16 UCLA, in addition to 2-seed Vanderbilt and 3-seeds Duke, Northeastern and USC, as the fields are nearly identical, sharing 60 teams. Michigan is the only one of those differences that is an at-large team.
The Week Ahead
Thursday: vs. Seton Hall; 6:05 p.m.; FloSports
Friday: vs. Seton Hall; 6:05 p.m.; FloSports
Saturday: vs. Seton Hall; 6:05 p.m.; FloSports
Tuesday: vs. UMass; 6:35 p.m.; UConn+ (Dunkin’ Park, Hartford, CT)
Wednesday: vs. Army; 5:05 p.m.; UConn+
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