UConn head coach Jim Penders has a lot of work to do with only two weeks and five games guaranteed to his Husky baseball squad in what’s left of the 2016 season.
Save for a weekend tilt with conference foe South Florida (and a minimum cover charge of two games at the AAC tournament), the Huskies are fighting for an at-large Hail Mary or, only relatively more likely, a conference tournament championship. Either, of course, would send his team to the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Penders has been in Storrs for a dozen years now and is second all-time in wins as the head Husky. What he hasn’t done a lot lately is win a ton of games against conference opponents. If he wants his team to play in the postseason, that is exactly what his team needs to do.
Though the Huskies have won their last three conference series (against teams not named East Carolina) they have yet to take a series against a high RPI-squad such as Tulane, Cincinnati or East Carolina.
#UConn pushed its win streak to six with a 14-4 win over URI. Hear Coach Penders with @JonesCcj postgame
WATCH: https://t.co/eUNjMig2XI
— UConn Baseball (@UConnBSB) May 17, 2016
In four years of baseball under Penders, UConn has not finished at or above .500 in conference play—a streak that could be undone this year as the Huskies are currently 11-9 and in third place in the AAC standings. The team is also only 2.5 games out of first place with only three games remaining. But, unfortunately, that won’t matter because winning the regular season crown doesn’t get you anywhere. What matters to UConn now is winning the conference tournament—something it hasn’t done since 2013.
Three years ago, led by outfielder Billy Ferriter, UConn put together four straight victories—including the conference championship game victory over then Big East member Notre Dame—and won an NCAA postseason berth with their triumphant tournament march. The next week it traveled to the Blacksburg Regional and took the opening game from the home-standing Virginia Tech Hokies.
Congrats to the uconn baseball team, insane upset over notre dame to win the big easy tourney
— Lavar Beef (@abari34) May 26, 2013
Back in present day 2016, this year’s UConn team has ridden the steady shoulders of junior southpaw Anthony Kay (6-2, 2.46 ERA) to the tune of 91-plus innings. They’ve also squeezed every last drop of juice out of all 16 of senior outfielder Joe Deroche-Duffin’s home runs this year (ranking him 13th in the nation). Both Kay and JDD’s contributions were large reasons the Huskies have helped themselves to a plus .500 conference standing. As advertised, that’s something the team hasn’t accomplished since 2012.
Having a plus .500 conference record while at the same time eclipsing 31 wins, that something the team hasn’t done since 2011; the same summer when George Springer and Matt Barnes were drafted by the pros. That year’s team went 22-5 in the Big East and 45-20 overall. The 2011 unit made it all the way to the Columbia Super Regional before dropping two games to South Carolina. That team made it farther than any other Husky baseball team had since 1979 when Larry Panciera (in his 18th and final year as head coach) led the Huskies to the ’79 College World Series.
In all, the Huskies have been to the CWS five times; but have been to exactly zero in the last 37 years.
#UConn closes out the regular season with three games at @USFBaseball on May 19-21
PREVIEW: https://t.co/CN3ng91FXn pic.twitter.com/EhhUT27XG6
— UConn Baseball (@UConnBSB) May 18, 2016
With a good showing on the final weekend of the regular season, the Huskies can make a big momentum leap toward the postseason. The team will play against South Florida (23-28, 8-13 AAC), which has won only two conference series all year—though one was last weekend on the road against East Carolina; the same team that has given the Huskies fits all year long (ECU is 5-1 against UConn in two three game sets in 2016).
Regardless of how their final set against USF turns out, if the Huskies don’t show up in the biggest of ways in Clearwater, FL then they will be packing for their summer assignments much sooner than planned.
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