Big East tournament

[johnhuskies95]

I don't think we could've gotten a worse draw. Obviously you want to stay out of the losers bracket for as long as possible and getting through the first two games without a loss is going to be extremely difficult. Maybe they get hot and surprise me though. I certainly didn't think they'd end up winning four straight to win the regional last year.

What do people think about the possible pitching matchups?

I would like to see UConn start off with Fischer tomorrow and then maybe pitch him again on Sunday if we're lucky enough to get that far. (I don't know what Penders' policy on three days rest is)

Then I think we should go with Marzi in the second game and then go inning by inning from there on. A few guys have had very good outings recently.

The best case realistic scenario in my mind is that we get by USF twice and Louisville decides not to take it seriously because they're already in the tournament. That would get us to the final and we could take our chances on the other side. St. Johns is likely already in the tournament as the token At-Large Northern team, but they're not solidly in, so they'll have something to play for.

I don't want to get my hopes up, but I still like the talent on this team. Who knows, maybe they have something up their sleeve.

 

[Dann]

we have no depth. its just like fball this past year. we have some great pieces but not enough. we will make evrything close but mostly come up short when it matters. next year will be great fun.

 

[johnhuskies95]

we have no depth. its just like fball this past year. we have some great pieces but not enough. we will make evrything close but mostly come up short when it matters. next year will be great fun.

Maybe. We lose our top three guys assuming that LJ will leave early. If Ferriter leaves that would mean our top four hitters will have left. I don't know if we have enough guys to step up.

This team is loaded with underclassmen though, so the year after next they should be really good.

Andreoli unexpectedly signing right before the deadline last year was a big blow. Did he redshirt a year? I don't really understand why a true junior in his draft position would leave early. He would've given us another big, reliable bat this year.

 

[mets1090]

We can obviously beat any team in this tournament but we can also get beat by any team. The same could be said of every other team in the tournament.

Fischer is good enough to shut down USF. Marzi is good enough to beat Louisville. Cross has come on strong so I think Penders will ride the hot hand and give him the third start. Tabakman/Dettman/Butler will all probably combine for the 4th start or long relief along the way. Fischer would the championship game.

As others have said, this team is young and will likely be very good in the next couple years. The starting rotation only loses Fischer and Butler. Improvement from Marzi, Ward (hopefully he comes back healthy all year and regains his Freshman form), Tabakman, Dettman and Cross should hold a very bright future. Losing Oberg from the back of the pen is going to hurt though. It'll be interesting to see how the pen holds up next year with no real go to guy next year. Feehan will probably be the closer and everything else will be patch work to start the season I think.

 

[Dann]

mets are u down there?

 

[Dann]

Maybe. We lose our top three guys assuming that LJ will leave early. If Ferriter leaves that would mean our top four hitters will have left. I don't know if we have enough guys to step up.

This team is loaded with underclassmen though, so the year after next they should be really good.

Andreoli unexpectedly signing right before the deadline last year was a big blow. Did he redshirt a year? I don't really understand why a true junior in his draft position would leave early. He would've given us another big, reliable bat this year.

yea we will lose a couple more pieces but we have a great recruit class and alot of young pieces as u said. you may be right. next year could be very raw but 2014 could be a monster year possibly.

 

[mets1090]

mets are u down there?

Sure am.

 

[Dann]

Sure am.

thats great man!

feed us some updates please!

whats the talk/scoop down there that your hearing? did we travel well as a fanbase?

 

[mets1090]

thats great man!

feed us some updates please!

whats the talk/scoop down there that your hearing? did we travel well as a fanbase?

Well... no one really has a big travelling fanbase down here as far as I saw last year. It's mostly family and girlfriends of players. I'm here with 3 other people as part of a 2 week trip to Florida. Not sure why more people wouldn't do it. We came for a week last year and it was amazing. The weather is absolutely insane. 90 degrees every day, no clouds in sight. It's like 70 at night. If anyone's looking for an annual trip, a week in Clearwater is pretty good. Finding a place to stay (hotel or condo style - lots of places with weekly rates) is pretty easy and the beaches are amazing. Pretty sure that as long as the tournament is still here and UConn is in the Big East, I'll do it every year if I have people to go with.

I'm curious to see how many fans USF gets tomorrow (they missed the tournament next year). The stadium is maybe 20 minutes from the USF campus so they should be able to easily fill the place up. I feel like if the Big East Tournament were in Norwich we would bring a couple thousand to each game. There weren't very many people at the Derby tonight so we will see. If I can remember I'll bring my camera to the games and grab some pictures.

 

[Kgun7]

mets1090 - I also look forward to reports... just like Tempe ... let us know what's going on!

Is anyone streaming the games live?

 

[Yonick]

Butler is a junior who is eligible to return. He was drafted late out of HS. I don't think he'll be drafted too high this year. With Ward, Marzi, Tabakmann, Dettman, now Cross, and possibly Butler, we should be strong at starting pitching. 5 frosh pitchers are coming in.
Regarding our position players, we have a new infield coming in. Some will start. Others should be good backups. No Mike Olts, or George Springers on the horizon, and we definately need another outfielder, or two. Catching, with Debellis, the incoming kid from PA, and Connor David alternating from catching to 1b to DH, and we should be strong behind the plate.
I do believe this team will be a bit better than this years. The following year should mirror last years team, hopefully.

 

[mets1090]

Butler is a junior who is eligible to return.

Hmm not sure why I thought Butler was a Senior. He should help out in the middle of the week next year then. I don't see him getting drafted high enough to warrant signing. He doesn't have electric stuff and tops off around 91 I think.

Is anyone streaming the games live?

Pretty sure the Big East is streaming all the games on their website except the championship game which is on one of the ESPNs, probably U.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Our starting pitching staff should be really, really good between Ward, Tabakman, Butler, Marzi, and company. Bullpen has some decent arms, but losing Oberg will be a blow. Losing Fuller, LJ, and Fischer will also hurt. Hopefully Ferriter comes back.

Ultimately, I feel next year's team will live and die by their defense. If the D improves, this team could threaten to make NCAA's. If they don't, I expect another decent, but unspectacular year. 2014 looks great, but I am cautious to praise this year's highly touted recruiting class before they step onto JO Christian field.

 

[johnhuskies95]

8:40 start time for the first game.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Up 4-1. Top 7. We hit Barbosa fairly hard and he has been taken out of the game. Live streaming on Big East's main site.

 

[Kgun7]

Very telling sequence: Ryan Moore first pitch pops up to third with a runner on 2nd and 1 out ... however, Ferriter patiently works a 2-1 count and singles up the middle to drive in the 4th run. Can't simulate experience ... well done by Ferriter!

 

[Dann]

hell yea boys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i have had a tough baseball year. uconn has been a rebuilding year and my golden bears came up just short. it would be so great if the pups could make a run here. love how we showed up 2night so far.

 

[UConn4ever]

Oberg is the man!!!!!

 

[uconnbaseball]

7-2, top of the 9th. Martin looking horrible defensively though. I could have made those plays.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Very good win. Let's see what they can do tomorrow.

 

[UConn4ever]

we win!!!

 

[mets1090]

Just got in for the night. Great win today. We dominated them in basically every aspect of the game from start to finish. All their hits early on were seeing eye singles it seemed. High choppers that just found holes. Fischer pitched well and we hit Barbosa hard. Carson Cross continued to impress and probably would have pitched the 9th if Martin hadn't made 2 errors in the 8th forcing Penders to put Oberg in. USF never had a chance of hitting Oberg.

Louisville didn't start Amlung today making it pretty likely that we will see him tomorrow. I don't see any way they try to save him for Sunday - you can't really take that chance. Not sure why you wouldn't throw your ace on day 1 and again in the championship but it worked out for them as they got the win today. Hopefully our offense comes ready to hit tomorrow and Marzi has his A game.

 

[Dann]

if marzi thows a gem 2moro, our whole outlook could change for the tney. hes been up and down this year. interesting strategy but lville.

 

[mets1090]

Oh and USF didn't bring many fans at all given their location. The game looked a lot like our regular season games do when we play them at Norwich or New Britain. They probably had a few hundred their I would guess and considering that 90% of the players probably had family their it wasn't terribly impressive. Louisville probably had a couple hundred themselves (caught the Ville/Pitt game at 5 too) and they had a Tampa Bay Area Louisville Alumni tailgate type thing set up outside so they must have a decent amount of people that live in the area. UConn probably had 50-75 depending on how many people were scattered in the outfield and at the bar, most of which was family of players of course.

 

[paulallen44]

Louisville didn't look all that impressive against Pitt today, but I don't think they had their ace going. Ferriter and the bottom of the order had some clutch hits today and Fischer was able to pitch out of trouble almost every inning. Cross pitched one inning and was taken out after Tim Martin made two consecutive errors. Oberg came in and shut the door with his curveball as usual. 7-2 W.