After beating #16 ranked Oklahoma 8-7 yesterday. We are a game below .500 though, mostly because we are playing freshman everywhere. Between the way we competed vs. a very good SEC team in MSST and these wins, I am very optimistic we can make a run at the Big East title. Doesn't excuse poor losses to teams like Ohio State and Rhode Island though.

Wish we had held on at Purdue...that would have been a huge win. We collapsed late and lost 9-4 but led most of the way. Purdue should be ranked with the way they've played. Bottom line is, we will be dangerous come BE play.

What has happened to St. John's? They are really talented. Also, BRUTAL loss for Seton Hall today.

(03-11-2012 01:30 AM)uconnbaseball Wrote:  After beating #16 ranked Oklahoma 8-7 yesterday. We are a game below .500 though, mostly because we are playing freshman everywhere. Between the way we competed vs. a very good SEC team in MSST and these wins, I am very optimistic we can make a run at the Big East title. Doesn't excuse poor losses to teams like Ohio State and Rhode Island though.

Wish we had held on at Purdue...that would have been a huge win. We collapsed late and lost 9-4 but led most of the way. Purdue should be ranked with the way they've played. Bottom line is, we will be dangerous come BE play.

What has happened to St. John's? They are really talented. Also, BRUTAL loss for Seton Hall today.

Nicccccccccccccccccccccccee!!! I can't wait for my Coogs to enter Big East baseball. However, we just had a bad couple of outings against Ole Miss. The season is still young but I think this one year delay may be just what we need to enter the nBe at our absolute best. We have the staff in place to get it done.

Will be interesting for a UH team to square off against a Penders-coached team. I believe Tom is still very supportive of UH basketball.

(03-11-2012 01:45 AM)uconnbaseball Wrote:  Will be interesting for a UH team to square off against a Penders-coached team. I believe Tom is still very supportive of UH basketball.

That's an understatement! Despite being expedited out of Houston, Tom is still contributes big $$$ to the program. I've always liked Penders. He took a program that was struggling mightily and took us to 6 straight winning seasons and an NCAA bid.
I think the jury is still out on James Dickey. Tom did leave the cupboard bare, so he's been given the benefit of the doubt as he builds the talent level back up. Our recruiting under Dickey has been better than it has since the glory days. However, we're not seeing anything close to the results that we got under Tom. Tom had us winning right out of the gate.
Until I see better coaching out of Dickey, I hold to the judgement that Penders would beat us like a rented mule. That said, next year we are bringing in our biggest recruits in years, House and Knowles. With the players we have coming eligible and returning to full health, I hope to finally see what our AD saw when he hired him. If he doesn't get it done, than the next coach will have some great pieces to work with, as well as the Big East conference to recruit to. I firmly believe that it's a matter of time.

But, yes, it would be very intersting to see the Coogs square off against a Penders-led squad.

Notre Dame beat Michigan 2-0 in Baton Rouge yesterday. I was able to attend that game.

They play again in about an hour and a half. I will be at that game too.

They have 13 true freshman on the 32 man squad. It is a very young team but they seem to be improving under second year coach Mik Aoki.

ND plays LSU later this afternoon and on Monday night. I would be very happy if they can steal one game against their own coach in this tournament.

They then go to San Antonio all week to host the annual Irish Classic at Wolff Stadium before finally coming back North for their home opener.

(03-11-2012 01:30 AM)uconnbaseball Wrote:  UConn baseball knocks off ranked Oregon State 6-3...After beating #16 ranked Oklahoma 8-7 yesterday. We are a game below .500 though, mostly because we are playing freshman everywhere. Between the way we competed vs. a very good SEC team in MSST and these wins, I am very optimistic we can make a run at the Big East title. Doesn't excuse poor losses to teams like Ohio State and Rhode Island though.

Wish we had held on at Purdue...that would have been a huge win. We collapsed late and lost 9-4 but led most of the way. Purdue should be ranked with the way they've played. Bottom line is, we will be dangerous come BE play.

What has happened to St. John's? They are really talented. Also, BRUTAL loss for Seton Hall today.

For those that never really follow college baseball, during non-conf play, WEEKEND game/wins are much more important...as teams generally use their 3 best starting pitchers on weekend games (to prepare them for conf weekend series coming up).

Games on Tues/Wed nights are generally with much younger/less experienced pitchers (middle relievers, future starters) and some back-up position players generally see their first action in mid-week non-conf games.

The Nike Challenge in Oregon is 4 games over 3 days...as UCONN also had an earlier game yesterday vs Illinois (5-1 loss), so a lot of pitchers will be used in a very short time....same for the other teams...as it is a bit different than a normal 3 game weekend series.

UCONN is currently on a 18 game month long ROAD TRIP...as UCONN doesn't play their first home game till March 21st vs Yale.

(03-11-2012 08:25 AM)TerryD Wrote:  Notre Dame beat Michigan 2-0 in Baton Rouge yesterday. I was able to attend that game.

They play again in about an hour and a half. I will be at that game too.

They have 13 true freshman on the 32 man squad. It is a very young team but they seem to be improving under second year coach Mik Aoki.

ND plays LSU later this afternoon and on Monday night. I would be very happy if they can steal one game against their own coach in this tournament.

They then go to San Antonio all week to host the annual Irish Classic at Wolff Stadium before finally coming back North for their home opener.

You guys did something we couldn't do in knocking out Illinois earlier in the year. I expect the conference race to be tight this year and welcome UH and UCF to our conference.

Edit: And Memphis of course!

The growth of the UConn baseball program is a great story. Northeastern schools aren't supposed to excel at baseball.

Add that program to our BB, FB, & soccer programs, and you have a solid athletic department. And now we're possibly talking about upgrading hockey, too.

The future looks great.

(03-11-2012 08:50 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(03-11-2012 01:30 AM)uconnbaseball Wrote:  UConn baseball knocks off ranked Oregon State 6-3...After beating #16 ranked Oklahoma 8-7 yesterday. We are a game below .500 though, mostly because we are playing freshman everywhere. Between the way we competed vs. a very good SEC team in MSST and these wins, I am very optimistic we can make a run at the Big East title. Doesn't excuse poor losses to teams like Ohio State and Rhode Island though.

Wish we had held on at Purdue...that would have been a huge win. We collapsed late and lost 9-4 but led most of the way. Purdue should be ranked with the way they've played. Bottom line is, we will be dangerous come BE play.

What has happened to St. John's? They are really talented. Also, BRUTAL loss for Seton Hall today.

For those that never really follow college baseball, during non-conf play, WEEKEND game/wins are much more important...as teams generally use their 3 best starting pitchers on weekend games (to prepare them for conf weekend series coming up).

Games on Tues/Wed nights are generally with much younger/less experienced pitchers (middle relievers, future starters) and some back-up position players generally see their first action in mid-week non-conf games.

The Nike Challenge in Oregon is 4 games over 3 days...as UCONN also had an earlier game yesterday vs Illinois (5-1 loss), so a lot of pitchers will be used in a very short time....same for the other teams...as it is a bit different than a normal 3 game weekend series.

UCONN is currently on a 18 game month long ROAD TRIP...as UCONN doesn't play their first home game till March 21st vs Yale.

All Northern teams do that every year.

ND is playing its first 18 games on the road in Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Louisiana and back to Texas before heading home after next weekend.

(03-11-2012 12:44 PM)uconnbaseball Wrote:  

(03-11-2012 08:25 AM)TerryD Wrote:  Notre Dame beat Michigan 2-0 in Baton Rouge yesterday. I was able to attend that game.

They play again in about an hour and a half. I will be at that game too.

They have 13 true freshman on the 32 man squad. It is a very young team but they seem to be improving under second year coach Mik Aoki.

ND plays LSU later this afternoon and on Monday night. I would be very happy if they can steal one game against their own coach in this tournament.

They then go to San Antonio all week to host the annual Irish Classic at Wolff Stadium before finally coming back North for their home opener.

You guys did something we couldn't do in knocking out Illinois earlier in the year. I expect the conference race to be tight this year and welcome UH and UCF to our conference.

I am a long term Big East baseball fan. I have been following the conference in baseball closely every year since about 1997.

I think that the additions of UCF, Memphis, Houston and SMU will help the conference. I look forward to them playing baseball in the Big East.