UConn baseball rode a midseason turnaround to a Super Regional
Heading into conference play, the Huskies were in dire straits. They ended up in a Super Regional.
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UConn turned what could have been a lost season into one to remember
Jim Penders took over the a UConn baseball program in 2004 that hadn’t been to an NCAA Tournament in a decade and despite rarely finishing below .500, had just one conference tournament berth in that span, when the Huskies went 0-2 in 2000.
By his third season, they were back in the Big East Tournament and appeared in the final the following year. UConn has missed just one conference tournament, with a 29-16 record and four titles, in the years since. In 2010, the Huskies were back in the NCAA Tournament and have missed just four of the 14 fields since as the program has been on a national upswing since 2016.
At the end of March, it seemed as though this would be a change from those trends and a year to forget. UConn had a weekend off prior to the start of conference play and went into that 9-15 with a -32 run differential. The offense was at 4.4 runs per game and had exceeded five runs just seven times.
From there, there was a rapid and quick turnaround. In the following 24 games, the Huskies were 19-5, exceeded five runs 15 times and were up to an even eight runs per game with a plus-77 run differential. When the rest of the regular season is included, this jumps to a 23-6 mark with a plus-96 run differential.
That 29-game stretch brought UConn from a forgettable season in which it was in danger of missing a conference tournament for the first time since 2008, which would surely doom it to end its NCAA Tournament streak, to being a 2-seed in most mock brackets heading into conference tournaments.
This was an incredible coaching job by Penders. He challenged his team with a very strong non-conference schedule that ranked in the nation’s top 20. It didn’t seem to be ready for the challenge, but he was able to galvanize the group and convince it that it wasn’t a lost season.
He even had to do it a second time. The Huskies went 0-2 in the Big East Tournament for the first time since 2000 and got drawn into a brutal Regional with two hosting caliber teams. UConn took a bus ride back instead of waiting for its flight on Sunday and got to work before journeying to Oklahoma for the Norman Regional.
The pitching was sparkling, the offense did what it needed to do and the defense was downright spectacular, leading the Huskies to their third Super Regional and second in three years.
It was a remarkable turnaround from a year that, halfway through, looked like it was going to be a rare lost season. Instead, it turned out to be one of the most successful in program history and one in another of exceptional coaching jobs by Penders.
Super Regional Summary
The Super Regionals had a heavy ACC and SEC flavor, as the leagues had five schools each. The only team of the final 16 to appear on UConn’s 2024 schedule was Kansas State, which won the Fayetteville Regional. In the Charlottesville Super Regional, hosted by No. 12 Virginia, the Cavaliers advnced to Omaha with 7-4 and 10-4 wins over the Wildcats.
None of the non ACC and SEC squads won Super Regionals and there will be four programs from those leagues each in the College World Series.
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