UConn Baseball Weekly: In the Home Stretch
With two weekends left in the regular season, Jim Penders won his 800th game. Plus, a check-in with outbound transfers around the country.
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Bittersweet win no. 800 comes with a series loss
UConn head coach Jim Penders, long the winningest coach in program history, grabbed his 800th win this past weekend. Unfortunately, it came after his Huskies lost the first two games of a three-game non-con series this weekend.
After dropping a pair of games to East Tennessee State University on Friday and Saturday, UConn salvaged the series Sunday and avoided the sweep with a narrow victory. Jackson Marshall blasted a grand slam that accounted for the Huskies’ only runs, but it was enough for the 4-3 win.
Daniel Connolly has all the details on Penders’ memorable day:
How UConn's program has evolved over Jim Penders' 800 career victories
An error cost Jim Penders his first career win as UConn baseball’s head coach, though not one of the fielding variety. It was a coaching mistake — and a self-inflicted one at that.
The weekend overall was much less sunny. The Huskies’ six-game win streak was snapped, while their third-place spot in the Big East held firm after St. John’s took two out of three from Creighton in Queens.
Charlie West took an uncharacteristic beating on Friday, tying a season-high in earned runs allowed. On par with his March 20 blowup against San Jose State, the Bucs’ bats jumped on West for eight hits over five innings. His season ERA ballooned from 3.68 to 4.33.
Cayden Suchy gave the Huskies a much better outing Saturday, striking out seven over seven innings with two earned runs allowed. He fell victim to cold bats, as the lineup managed just one run. In both losses, the bullpen surrendered three earned runs.
Oliver Pudvar helped stop the bleeding in his start on Sunday. In his fourth-straight quality start, the redshirt junior gave the Huskies 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball, earning his sixth win of the season.
Jackson Marshall made sure Pudvar departed with a lead, smashing a sixth-inning grand slam over the left field wall — into the wind! It was the second grand slam of the season for the Huskies’ home run leader. His on-base streak extends to 38 games as the Huskies move to 27-22 on the season.
Bracketology
We’re now getting weekly updates to the projections we’ve been following all season that work to forecast the field of 64. UConn does not appear in either below, though they can still play their way into the tournament via the Big East’s automatic qualifying bid.
D1Baseball
St. John’s is the conference champion for the second straight week in this projection. Where the Johnnies will play has changed, shifting from the Auburn regional to one hosted by Coastal Carolina.
Baseball America
St. John’s repeats in this forecasted field, replacing Creighton after a series win over the weekend. Athens is St. John’s destination here, joining host Georgia (6-seed), Virginia (27-seed), and Southern champion Mercer.
RPI Update
The Huskies fall two spots in RPI, with Xavier surging to claim the highest spot of any Big East program. Creighton jumps back over UConn, with St. John’s in shouting distance of the top three. Georgetown and Seton Hall take noticeable nosedives.
Xavier: No. 74 (up from 81)
Creighton: No. 82 (down from 80)
UConn: No. 83 (down from 76)
St. John’s: No. 106 (down from 102)
Butler: No. 223 (up from 228)
Villanova: No. 250 (up from 267)
Georgetown: No. 270 (down from 258)
Seton Hall: No. 278 (down from 251)
A standings update. Notice anything?
That’s right, Butler is in the mix! We may have called the Big East tournament’s field a bit prematurely last week.
The Bulldogs are 10 games under .500 but surged to a conference record over .500 last weekend with a sweep of Seton Hall, hanging at least eight runs on the Pirates in each game with an aggregate weekend score of 32-11.
Butler will play Xavier this weekend, making it the series to watch. A sweep moves them into the conference tournament field, with St. John’s awaiting in their final series of the year. It’s an uphill climb, no doubt, but momentum building off a sweep — against the last place team, sure — could spark some magic.
UConn will look to make up some ground on Creighton and St. John’s with three games against Seton Hall starting Friday. The Red Storm play Villanova, and the Blujays play Georgetown this weekend.
Creighton also notched a mammoth midweek win, walking off No. 7 Kansas on a home run from Nolan North in the 13th inning.
Transfer Check-in
With HookC taking the week off for finals before returning to the field this weekend, let’s take a look at how the Huskies who decided to hit the transfer portal before the 2026 campaign are faring with their respective new programs as the regular season begins to wind down.
Spoiler: It has mostly not been great.
Thomas Ellisen was the Huskies’ highest-profile transfer, leaving for the Georgia Bulldogs of the SEC. Formerly a weekend starter for the Huskies, the right-handed graduate student has taken on a bullpen role for the Bulldogs but has struggled to find consistency.
His last appearance came against East Tennessee State, coincidentally. In that April 14 appearance, Ellisen gave up three runs in 1.2 innings pitched. Though his strikeouts have remained strong (9.4 per nine), his 6.61 ERA has kept him from seeing the mound in conference play.
In his stead, the Huskies have to be thrilled with what they’ve gotten out of the trio of West (4-5, 4.33 ERA), Suchy (4-2, 2.88 ERA), and Pudvar (6-3, 3.60 ERA) on the weekends. For Ellisen’s part, he’ll have a chance at a ring on a Georgia squad that currently sits atop the SEC.
Grant MacArthur transferred back to his home state of California to play at the Pacific University. The former Husky DH and first baseman has put up solid results for the Tigers but has suffered from a distinct downturn in power output. After smashing 10 home runs and 10 doubles on his way to a .520 slugging percentage in his lone season as a Husky, the 21-year-old has only eight combined extra-base hits with his new squad in just 11 less games thus far. While his .406 on-base percentage has helped him to maintain a decent .787 OPS, the drop off in power has been harmful to his game.
Aidan Dougherty is another Husky who transferred to the West Coast to be closer to home, but his results from Storrs haven’t followed. Transferring into the Big Ten to play for the Washington, the former UConn outfielder has batted just .194 and has picked up only two extra-base hits in 76 at-bats for an OPS of .542. While Dougherty wasn’t exactly a power hitter during his time at UConn, the utilityman did rope 10 doubles with an OPS of .845. Washington sits in the bottom half of the Big Ten standings and has a 10-14 record in conference play.
Jack LaRose transferred after fall ball and has performed extremely well in his first semester at Vernon College, a junior college in Texas. After missing all of 2025 due to injury, the now redshirt freshman has smacked 11 home runs in 52 games while providing a .362 batting average. The infielder’s junior college tenure may end up being short-lived, as his 1.162 OPS may have him ticketed for college baseball’s top level in short order.
LaRose was the second Husky to transfer to Vernon, following former teammate and Texas native Owen Norrell to the Lone Star State. Norrell never saw the field for UConn but has pitched 35 innings for the Chaparrals. Though he hasn’t found the same success as LaRose, working to a 9.00 ERA, he has struck out 11.57 batters per nine.
Jude Abbadessa couldn’t carry over a strong summer with the Trenton Thunder in the MLB Draft League (2.59 ERA in 24.1 innings) to Tulane, where the 22-year-old has posted an 8.07 ERA in 25 appearances and two starts. As he did for much of his time as a Husky, the right-hander has struggled to keep the ball in the park, allowing 1.7 home runs per nine innings. That’s right in line with his career mark of 1.6.
Hector Alejandro and Devin Wolff both opted to stay in state, as Alejandro moved over to Sacred Heart as a graduate student while Wolff ended up at Fairfield.
After not seeing much action in three years as a Husky, the move to Sacred Heart has brought Alejandro more innings, though the corresponding results have not been there. Through 23.1 innings, the Connecticut native has pitched to a 7.33 ERA. Wolff falls into the same boat. While the junior has gotten into seven games after making just three appearances in two years with UConn, his 11.17 ERA is unsightly.
Cole Taylor has also struggled this season after transferring to Elon. After redshirting his freshman season with the Huskies, the right-hander has a 10.29 ERA and .333 batting average against in eight appearances.
Thomas Galusha is yet another former UConn bullpen arm who’s transferred out and struggled to find success, though his recent results have been more promising. While his season ERA sits at 7.00, the right-hander has allowed a run or less in each of his last seven appearances dating back to March 29 at Bryant. During that stretch, the redshirt sophomore faced his former team on April 7. Though UConn won that contest, 6-2, Galusha tossed a scoreless inning and sat the Huskies down in order.
Gio Conte is one of the rare transfer arms from this cycle who has found success with his new team. Pitching for Siena, Conte has maintained a 2.90 ERA out of the ‘pen and has earned a win in each of his last three appearances (5-2 on the year). Conte appeared in just two contests for the Huskies as a redshirt freshman in 2025.
Ben Schild (4.60 ERA with Division III Rowan) and Jack Sullivan (a 3.86 ERA with Marist) have also both found success with their new teams. Schild is one of the few UConn transfers to consistently start games with his new squad in the NJAC, an especially strong Division III conference.
Though he never found a consistent role at UConn, outfielder Carter Groen is back to being the player who was a freshman standout at Iona with La Salle University. The now-junior is top-15 in batting average (.338 ), OPS (1.014), and home runs (12) in the Atlantic 10 conference this season. In his most recent game against Dayton on May 3, Groen smacked two long balls.
On Deck
UConn has two weekends to maintain its top-four position in the conference and clinch a spot in the Big East tournament.
The Huskies are on the road this weekend, heading to New Jersey to play Seton Hall. The Pirates are a Big East-worst 2-13 in conference play, but a 9-11 home record is nothing to scoff at.
In the midweek, UConn plays its final non-conference game of the season. The Huskies went to Northeastern on the final day of March and obliterated their rival Huskies, a 21-5 run-rule win called after seven innings.
Friday: at Seton Hall | Owen T. Carroll Field, South Orange, NJ | 4 p.m.
Saturday: at Seton Hall | Owen T. Carroll Field, South Orange, NJ | 1 p.m.
Sunday: at Seton Hall | Owen T. Carroll Field, South Orange, NJ | 12 p.m.
Tuesday: vs. Northeastern | Elliot Ballpark, Storrs, CT | 6:05 p.m.
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