Who fills out UConn's starting rotation?
Stephen Quigley and Garrett Coe seem entrenched, but teams need at least four starters to go deep in the postseason.
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Quigley and Coe top the rotation. Who follows them?
Teams with real postseason aspirations need four starting pitchers to fulfill those goals. The UConn teams that made it to Super Regionals each had starting pitching depth to survive in double-elimination tournaments and save the bullpen for end-of-game situations, rather than getting outs in the middle innings on a consistent basis.
Stephen Quigley (3-3, 3.86) and Garrett Coe (7-5, 3.87) have consistently held down spots in the weekend rotation, with Coe on Saturday and Quigley taking the ball the past two Fridays. They’re the only Huskies with more than 50 innings and are second and third behind reliever Brady Afthim in ERA, with more than respectable batting averages against. Other than those two, four other arms have taken the mound to begin a game this year, to mixed results.
Ian Cooke (3-1, 4.38) has the pedigree and has come on in a big way as of late, but has also been inconsistent. He earned some freshman All-America honors in 2022 after bursting on the scene later in the year and was a big reason why UConn made the Stanford Super Regional, but suffered through injuries and ineffectiveness in 2023 after being named Big East preseason pitcher of the year, with a 5.73 ERA.
February and March were no different. He started the season with a gem against Louisville, with six shutout innings in which he looked like the 2022 version of himself. However, over his next five appearances, he threw just 3 1/3 innings and allowed 12 runs, three of which were out of the bullpen, as it looked like he had been supplanted in the rotation. Uneven outings against LIU and Boston College followed, leaving him to close March with a 9.18 ERA.
Cooke followed the team in turning around once the calendar flipped to April, looking like a new pitcher. He’s made five appearances and logged 32 2/3 frames, surrendering seven runs for a 1.92 ERA. This includes 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball in relief with two hits and 14 strikeouts against St. John’s and two runs allowed against Seton Hall, falling one out short of a shutout.
He’s traded the final rotation spot with Gabe Van Emon (2-5, 7.16), who transferred from Endicott. He burst on the scene early, shutting out Auburn over 5 1/3 innings of work, then in his next outing, coughed up just one run to UC Santa Barbara. From there, he’s had good performances, but has not been consistent enough to where Jim Penders can feel good calling his number in a postseason setting.
He had a quality start against Rutgers and UMass, but in the eight appearances since facing the Gauchos, he’s failed to complete the third inning four times and his ERA has ballooned from 1.72 to 7.16. Most recently, he allowed five runs in just one inning on Tuesday against Northeastern.
Joe Cinella (3-2, 5.27) isn’t stretched out, as he has exceeded three innings in an outing just twice this year and has started a third frame four times in 18 appearances. He also hasn’t thrown since not recording an out against Villanova on April 28. The final option, Ben Schild (3-0, 4.71) hasn’t pitched in a month.
Braden Quinn (2-2, 3.90) is the only pitcher with more than 20 innings on the year and is looked at as a crucial bullpen piece. Unless someone else steps up, UConn’s starting rotation for the postseason will likely be Quigley, Coe, Cooke and Van Emon. They’ve each shown the ability to shut down an offense and work deep into games, but will need to be more consistent if the Huskies want to win a Big East Tournament and get deep into the postseason.
RPI Update
UConn is No. 44 in the RPI, which is level with last week. Taking two of three from Seton Hall was a Quad 3 series win on the road, but not worth much in the RPI, though the 18-3 drubbing the team took against top-40 Northeastern on Tuesday didn’t hurt much.
The schedule is getting down to the end, with just seven games remaining. Four of them, including this weekend’s series at home against Creighton, are Quad 2, while the last midweek game against Cincinnati may find its way to Quad 1. The series against Butler will be Quad 3, with at least two top-100 games in the Big East Tournament that will be at least Quad 2.
According to Boyd’s World’s RPI Needs Report, which examines how high a team can climb in a vacuum, UConn needs an undefeated finish to the regular season to reach the top 32.
The Huskies are defending a one-game lead over St. John’s in the Big East standings with six to go and UConn holds the tiebreaker over the Red Storm. Jim Penders’ team can clinch the regular season championship as soon as Sunday, but that would require St. John’s to drop at least two games to Seton Hall and Georgetown to similarly stumble against Xavier.
Bracketology
Baseball America
It’s a 3-seed for UConn this week, as Baseball America places the projected Big East champion Huskies in the Norman Regional, which is hosted by No. 10 Oklahoma (shoutout Bridget, friend of the blog). The Huskies and Sooners are joined by 2-seed Dallas Baptist and 4-seed Lamar. St. John’s is the second-to-last team in the field and is the 3-seed in No. 9 Oregon State’s Corvallis Regional. Xavier is also the first team out, while Creighton is included within the outlet’s bubble watch as a “work to do” team.
No. 16 UC Santa Barbara is the only team UConn faced in a weekend series in the field. There are multiple single-game squads, including Bryant (4-seed), No. 13 Indiana State, Kansas State (3-seed), Louisville (3-seed), Northeastern (3-seed) and UC Irvine (2-seed).
D1Baseball
UConn holds as a 2-seed in D1Baseball.com’s projection and get a brutal draw, heading to the Knoxville Regional to face No. 3 Tennessee. Virginia Tech (3-seed) and Niagara (4-seed) fill out the bracket. The Huskies are joined by St. John’s, which is a 3-seed in the Fayetteville Regional, hosted by No. 5 Arkansas. The Nerdcast briefly discussed Xavier as a team on the fringes of consideration.
Single-game opponents include Bryant (4-seed), No. 9 Indiana State, Kansas State (3-seed) and UC Irvine (2-seed), while No. 15 UC Santa Barbara is the only weekend foe in the field.
The Week Ahead
Friday: Creighton; 6:05 p.m.; FloSports
Saturday: Creighton; 2:05 p.m.; FloSports
Sunday: Creighton; 12:35 p.m.; FloSports
Tuesday: Cincinati; 11 a.m.; ESPN+
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