UConn Baseball Weekly: Grading the first half
The Huskies started slow but are surging of late. How is each position group faring?
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After a treacherous midweek loss to Quinnipiac on March 25, Jim Penders said flatly his team was “out-coached, out-pitched, out-defended, out-hit.” I
t was supposed to be the final tune up before the Big East slate began — a chance to get a sure-fire win under the Huskies’ belts to build some confidence. Instead, UConn lost 8-3 against an opponent it had beaten 12 consecutive times entering the game.
But the UConn baseball team has let bygones be bygones and are now playing some of their best baseball of the season two weeks into conference play. The Huskies are 6-2 since the Bobcats beat them on their home turf, having claimed series wins over Xavier and Creighton, and have won their last three straight after Tuesday’s midweek win over America East favorite Bryant.
The Huskies will play three with Butler this weekend. While winners of five in a row, the Bulldogs are eight games under .500 and not expected to make much noise in the conference. With that series looming, we will take a look at each of UConn’s four position groups and reflect on their collective performance as we cross the midway point of the 2026 season.
Infield: B-
The big story here is Jackson Marshall. After transferring from Southern New Hampshire University, Marshall has been the Huskies’ premier power hitter through this point in the season. Not only does Marshall lead the team with 9 home runs, but he also paces the lineup with 11 doubles, suggesting the power production is sustainable for the 6-foot-8 slugger. The sophomore is currently riding a 23 game on-base streak that dates back to March 1 against UNC Wilmington.
Evan Menzel, another transfer, has been streaky at the plate but a consistent presence, starting all 34 of the Huskies’ games thus far at the keystone. The hometown kid (Coventry) has 11 multi-hit games but 14 hitless appearances as well. The highlight of his season so far came back in the Huskies’ home opener against New Haven on March 4, when his oddball inside the park home run completed the first UConn cycle since Brian Esposito 1999.
After a slow start, shortstop Rob Rispoli found his groove in mid-March before another rough patch in recent weeks. Hitting under .200 as late as March 4, he has gotten back up to .252. However, the batting average isn’t as important as the on-base numbers, as the redshirt sophomore is doing a good job setting the table with a .432 on-base clip. A recent drop to the bottom third of the order may have sparked something in his bat as well, as he’s hit .307 in five games since.
Photo: Ian Bethune
Rispoli’s defense hasn’t exactly been elite, as he already has one more error committed than a season ago with eight. His double play partner Menzel hasn’t helped, as the second baseman sits at nine.
Third base has been something of a black hole for the Huskies, with Maddix Dalena, Peyton Jemison and Bryce Detwiler combining for a .211 batting average over 152 at bats. The three make up the bottom three of all qualified Huskies hitters in the category.
The saving grace of late has been Dalena’s recent power surge. The redshirt junior hit his first two home runs of the season against Creighton and added a double, necessary contributions when considering the fact Dalena has never been a big on-base threat.. The cornerman also made two errors, and the defense as a whole has been rough since switching off first base in deference to Marshall.
After an early season injury to Connor Lane, Gabriel Tirado has been the one to cement himself as the everyday guy, along with a little help from Cam Righi (more on him later). Tirado has already taken over triple the number of plate appearances he took last season as a freshman and has really come on as of late. After ending the West Coast trip with a .200 batting average, the Connecticut native has hit .316 since while adding five extra base knocks and boosting his season average 65 points.
Chris Cancel has also turned out to be a viable depth option, getting on base at a .375 and adding the Huskies only RBI against Xavier on March 29.
Outfield: A-
Though it took a few weeks to find the right mix, Cam Righi and Chris Polemeni at the corners with Nater Wachter up the middle has easily been the configuration that has produced the best results.
Recency bias aside, Righi has been one of the most consistent bats on the roster. Even before the left fielder dropped eight RBIs against Northeastern or three home runs in the series finale against Creighton last week to be named to the Big East Honor Roll, he had been hitting .346.
Now slashing .366/.412/.686, the freshman is squarely in the mix for Big East Freshman of the Year.
Right by Righi’s side in the on-base department has been Chris Polemeni. The right fielder has gotten on in almost half of his plate appearances with a .493 on-base percentage, which has earned him a promotion to the top of the lineup to replace Rispoli in the leadoff spot.
Wachter shifted over from left to center midway through the first half of games, but the bat has remained steady regardless of his position. Another SNHU transfer, Wachter has slashed .295/.399/.467 while starting each of the Huskies 34 games thus far, the only other player besides Menzel to do so.
You can also throw in Tyler Minick, who began the season as the starting center fielder but has been limited to being penciled in at DH due to nerve issues in his hand. That’s not to say the Second Team All-American’s bat has been an afterthought. The junior hit five home runs in 10 games after returning against Boston College and is tied for the fourth-most RBIs on the team with 21 despite a multi-week absence.
The only knock on the group has been the defense. While neither cornerman is exactly error-prone, Righi is a converted catcher still adjusting to the position and Polemeni has struggled with reads from time to time. Wachter is the best outfielder in the group but is better suited for a corner spot.
If the Huskies are up in the ninth inning, chances are that Chase Taylor will enter the game in right, Anthony Belisario will replace Wachter in center and Wachter will shift over a spot to left.
Starting pitching: B
The pitching, for all intents are purposes, has looked pretty good. The Huskies carry a team ERA a tick over five, over a full run lower than opponents faced. The weekend starters, comprising Cayden Suchy, Charlie Hale andnd Oliver Pudvar has consistently given UConn length on their worst days and elite run prevention on their best.
All have made eight starts apiece, with Suchy emerging as the ace and a candidate for Big East Pitcher of the Year. He has gone at least six innings in six of his starts and has risen to another level to start conference play. In two starts against Xavier and Creighton, he has thrown 15.0 innings, allowed just two runs while striking out 21.
West is on a similar heater. After a seven-earned-run blowup against San Jose State, he gave the Musketeers and Blue Jays similar fits. Between the two starts, he threw 14 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and fanning 11. His ERA (4.83) is inflated from three starts of at least five earned, but he has been more reliable than not and is really coming into his own to start the season’s second half.
Pudvar (6.03 ERA) has struggled to look like the version of himself that broke out last year and was Jim Penders’ go-to guy in big games. He has not gone deep into games consistently, only one start of at least six innings, on account of high pitch counts. If he can keep his walks down, only three total in his three two starts, he could truly make this rotation a three-headed monster down the stretch.
Bullpen: C+
Like pretty much any bullpen, be it college or at the professional level, UConn’s has reliability and volatility. Let’s start with the reliables first.
Greg Shaw III is nails. There’s no way around it. His 2.03 ERA is the lowest of any pitcher, starter or reliever, on the team, through over 25 innings pitched. The 2025 team leader in appearances is in the mix to do it again, having already made 12, just behind Charlie Hale’s 13 and Paxton Meyers’ 15. Eight of those 12 appearances have lasted multiple innings. He fires strikes (nine walks) and gets whiffs with regularity (24 strikeouts). There is no man more important in UConn’s bullpen than Shaw.
Hale and Meyers have carved out nice roles for themselves, as well. Hale has become a bit like Penders’ swiss-army knives, with four of his 13 appearances having been starts. He has thrown the second-most innings (42 2/3) behind Suchy and has shown success in both opener and fireman roles. At nearly a strikeout per inning (40 K’s), Hale has proved he can gets outs in all ways while keeping the ball in the yard (four home runs allowed).
Meyers started shaky, allowing four earned in his first inning in a UConn uniform, but has really impressed since. Eliminate that outing against Arizona and his 4.30 ERA drops over a full run lower to a 3.20. He pitched his longest and strongest outing of the season against Bryant, throwing 4 2/3 scoreless and striking out four.
Photo: Ian Bethune
But a bullpen cannot roll three men deep, qnd UConn’s other arms have not been as reliable. A huge contributor last year, Sean Finn has seen his starting role disappear, having made nine appearances and just one start, carrying an ERA over 12.00.
Tristan Aasland, who showed such promise in the preseason and the first few weeks of the year, has not appeared since mid-March after a pair of outings in which he surrendered five earned runs. Rob Gilchrist (10.29 ERA) has given up three earned in each of his last two outings and has yet to see the mound in conference play. Garret Garbinski’s ERA sits at 14.09, but has pitched just once since his best outing of the season — a five-strikeout performance over two shutout innings against San Jose State.
Austin Trumpour has pitched sporadically but has been strong in seven appearences. He handled some dirty work in 3 2/3 innings against Quinnipiac and has taken the ball as recently as the Bryant win. Joe Talarico (6 2/3 IP, 4.26 ERA) did not pitch at all for UConn in the month of February, but has been a reliable mid-inning option in March. In five appearances in March, he has allowed one earned run or none at all in all five.
As the season gets later and later, innings and outs become all-the-more valuable. Penders has men he can trust to toe the slab, but not as many as he would like. For that reason, the grade is merely a C+.
RPI Update
Here’s where each Big East team stacks up this week. Don’t take too much stock into these numbers, which continue to fluctuate as teams begin to settle into conference play. Butler and St. John’s both collected sweeps in their first conference series of the year, tied atop the standings at 3-0. UConn, at 4-2, has fallen from in RPI from the mid-90s two weeks ago despite their recent success.
Xavier: No. 95
Creighton: No. 96
St. John’s: No. 109
UConn: No. 110
Seton Hall: No. 226
Butler: No. 231
Villanova: No. 250
Georgetown: No. 253
Bracketology
Baseball America
For the first time since the preseason, outlets have released their midyear projections for the NCAA Tournament field. Baseball America’s projection has all but Creighton on the outside looking in. The Blue Jays enter as the automatic qualifier in the Hattiesburg, Mississippi regional, paired with host Southern Miss, Cincinnati and Little Rock.
D1Baseball
D1Baseball agrees with Baseball America in that the Big East is a one-bid conference, though their projection, released last week, has UConn in as the automatic qualifier. The Huskies slot into the Charlottesville regional in Virginia, and would be joined by Virginia, LSU and Bucknell, with the Bison the presumed champions of the Patriot League.
Common opponents in both projections include Portland out of the WCC and Bryant out of America East. Boston College cracks the field in D1Baseball’s projection, but not Baseball American’s. The Huskies dropped their series with Portland in mid-March and lost their first of two against the Eagles, 26-19.
The Huskies will play BC again April 15 and took a decisive 6-2 win over Bryant just yesterday. There are no other projected tournament teams on UConn’s schedule outside of Creighton, who the Huskies took two out of three from last weekend.
One fun projection has neither Creighton nor UConn in the field, but rather Georgetown stealing the lone bid and making the trip to Omaha. Boston College sits on the bubble in the Last Four Out, while Bryant and Portland remain locked into the field as respective conference champs. The Hoyas are 18-15 this year, having lost their first Big East series to Xavier.
On Deck
UConn will go on the road for the first time in Big East play this year, traveling to Indianapolis — sore subject — to face Butler. This is no throwaway series, as the Bulldogs are playing motivated baseball coming off their sweep of Villanova in their first conference weekend. A win for UConn will bear enormous momentum into next weekend’s series against St. John’s, who are nearing .500 after their dreadful 1-10 start.
In the midweek, it’s one more with Boston College. UConn already has three enormous wins against NCAA tournament hopefuls, two over Creighton and Tuesday’s against Butler, and a season split with the Eagles would bode well for their at-large chances. The two sides combined for 45 runs in their first meeting of the season.
Friday: vs. Butler | Bulldog Park, Indianapolis, IN | 3 p.m.
Saturday: vs. Butler | Bulldog Park, Indianapolis, IN | 2 p.m.
Sunday: vs. Butler | Bulldog Park, Indianapolis, IN | 12 p.m.
Tuesday: at Boston College | Eddie Pellagrini Diamond, Brighton, MA | 3 p.m.
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