UConn @ Texas State Bobcats (Fri. 3/8 @ 7:30p ET, Sat. 3/9 @ 3:30 ET & Sun. 3/10 @ 1p ET)
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uconnbaseball
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Fedko brothers cannot cash in. Missing Woody today.
Stainmaster
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C’mon Gozzo - break their spirit.
Gozzo pinch hitting for Lucas. I would have figured Phillips. Brodnansky walks with 1 out, Maycock pinch runs.
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Not today...
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Our backup C and backup CF hit back-to-back HRs in the 12th inning yesterday. The luck was bound to run out.
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Oh well, good series win.
Also a very positive showing for the most part from the bullpen, with a good chunk of young arms to boot. Plus, good showings from Gardner. That plus a series win is a positive for the future.
huskypantz
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You have to imagine a full strength Feole would get us 2-3 more innings yesterday. Once he's 100% our bullpen gets even better. Great to get another series win on the road against a solid team. We need to see the second half of the lineup produce more but overall we can see the pieces coming together.
Experiment? I would hardly call it that. Mayock was the last of 12 UConn pitchers to appear in this series, and most of them pitched a lot more than he did. Yes, at this point it would appear Mayock is well down the totem pole on the pitching depth chart, but he did manage to get out of the inning after allowing that one run to score. Besides, Johnson had pitched the night before, and had already gone an inning, and had walked the first two batters in this inning. Someone had to go in and pitch at that point, and your choices besides Mayock were Avery Santos, Kenny Haus (not sure it either of these guys were available), and the unused freshman Jake Sanderson.
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UConn did well to win the series considering no starter went five innings this weekend. Next weekend UConn has four games against Michigan State, followed by a midweek game at Virginia, so five starters will be needed. It will be interesting to see who gets picked after Feole and Kersten, although I'm inclined to think Colby Dunlop may be in the mix (just a hunch on my part, as I figure Dunlop was going to start against Hartford, but now that is postponed for now). Given the comments from Penders in the postgame interview, who knows if one of them will be Joe Simeone. I really started following UConn baseball around 2010, and I don't recall the starting pitching being this unsettled in all that time.
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I wonder if the coaches trust Wurster to start and try and go 4 innings.
UVA also has issues with starting pitching depth. That one will be a doozy.
One question is whether or not the coaches will give Colby Dunlop and Ken Haus another chance at starting this weekend in the four games against Michigan. I'm inclined to think that may happen. Still, the coaching staff has to be thinking and preparing for alternatives to Simeone, Dunlop, and Haus should they continue to struggle and produce 3 inning starting stints. It would seem to me that the group of redshirt freshmen pitchers (Wurster, Wang, and Johnson) may be the best option. The argument for Johnson is that he had several solid starts for the Mystic Schooners last summer (along with some other starts where he struggled), so he is used to starting. Wang is probably the most inexperienced of the lot, but at the same time he threw 50+ pitches over the weekend, so maybe his arm is more stretched out for a possible start. All these guys (including Dunlop and Simeone) would probably be best served into easing into the starting role with starts in New England weekday games. Of course, that doesn't change the need for an effective Sunday starter, especially once conference play begins.
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This isn't that hard. Last year, Gardner as a weekend starter went 4-2 and pitched to a 4.00 ERA. Averaging 4 2/3 inning per game. That is so, so, so far above what we've gotten from anyone other than Kersten and Mason this year that the switch has to be made. Especially as we don't seem reliant on him in the bullpen anyway, and Wurster seems as if he may be competent to be the left compliment to Wally and CJ.
We need 5 starters next week. I'm sure Haus will get another one, as his batting average against is much better than his ERA, but that's a good predictor this early in the season when ERAs fluctuate wildly. I'm sure Dunlop will get another shot, as he was going to be the #4 this week and we need 5 next week, and since he didn't pitch he didn't lose ground. I think the question right now is how long they go with Simeone, and if not who else is getting a shot.
We may not get to a clear #4 this year. We may spend all season with guys using the New England games to audition. But we have to get to a #3 and if it were me Gardner would get a start next week. If you want to save him for UVA, so he can go Friday or Saturday against MSU, that's fine.
Gardner had two good outings out of the pen this past weekend that drew positive reviews from Penders in the postgame interviews. If Gardner keeps that up he will be pitching a lot more, whether it is as a starter or out of the pen.
I like the points you make about Haus, so that reinforces my thought that he will get a starting spot this weekend.