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-> After UConn learned about its regional destination, Penders immediately texted his father, Jim. His father had a scary experience playing for UConn in College Park that impacted the Penders family.
"My father almost died on that field," Penders said. "In 1963, he got hit in the head. He got the last rites at Prince George's County Hospital. He had to learn to talk and read all over again. He came back two years later to be the captain of the UConn baseball team with his brother (Tom).
"His brother wound up here (at UConn) because of that incident, because he committed to Duquesne to play basketball and his mom said, 'No, you're going to go to UConn to take care of your brother because he's going to need help just surviving.'
"... So, he took care of him. And they got to play together on that 1965 College World Series team. So, the second I saw it come up, I texted the old man and said, "You better be coming. You've got to come back, you don't remember much the last time you were there.' I'm excited to get back for personal reasons. <-
Even harder since UConn usually has to win the conference tournament. How many times during that span did they receive an At Large bid?
College Park Regional
Maryland won a program-record 45 games and is hosting a regional for the first time in program history. The Terps rank third nationally with 123 home runs. … Wake Forest is one spot behind Maryland with 115 home runs. The Demon Deacons, in the field for the first time since 2017, are hitting .319 as a team and lead the ACC with 539 runs scored. … UConn enters the regional with 46 wins (second-most in program history), including 26 away from home. Sophomore outfielder Korey Morton has been limited to 34 games due to injury but is hitting .442 and slugging .726. … Long Island, in the field for the third time, played only one game in 2022 against a team that earned a spot in a regional — a 7-2 loss at Army on May. 3.
- Maryland (No. 15)
- Wake Forest
- Connecticut
- Long Island
Predicted winner: UConn
That surprised me, given how baseball in general tends to discount the northeast. Still, The Athletic loves UConn. There is a ton of UConn content on there.College Park Regional
Maryland won a program-record 45 games and is hosting a regional for the first time in program history. The Terps rank third nationally with 123 home runs. … Wake Forest is one spot behind Maryland with 115 home runs. The Demon Deacons, in the field for the first time since 2017, are hitting .319 as a team and lead the ACC with 539 runs scored. … UConn enters the regional with 46 wins (second-most in program history), including 26 away from home. Sophomore outfielder Korey Morton has been limited to 34 games due to injury but is hitting .442 and slugging .726. … Long Island, in the field for the third time, played only one game in 2022 against a team that earned a spot in a regional — a 7-2 loss at Army on May. 3.
- Maryland (No. 15)
- Wake Forest
- Connecticut
- Long Island
Predicted winner: UConn
Some love from The Athletic.