UConn Baseball Starts Season vs. Florida Atlantic

The UConn baseball team will start its 119th season with a weekend series in Boca Raton, Florida against Florida Atlantic University on Friday night. After finishing last season with a 27-31 record, head coach Jim Penders is excited to get back out onto the field and begin the quest for the program’s sixth appearance in the College World Series.

“It’s going to be nice to get into the sun and get some dirt underneath our feet and play baseball outside for the first time since October,” Penders said. “It’ll be interesting, and it is very exciting.”

Predicted to finish fourth in the American Athletic Conference behind No. 7 Houston, Central Florida, and East Carolina, the Huskies return two of the conference’s best hitters in Blake Davey and Bobby Melley.

The duo combined for 14 home runs, 26 doubles, and 79 runs batted in last season as the heart of UConn’s order. Davey became the first Husky to reach double-digit home runs since George Springer in 2011, while Melley led the AAC with a .359 batting average. With Davey and Melley in the middle of the lineup once again, the Huskies will boast one of the strongest batting orders in the AAC.

Despite losing starter Anthony Marzi to graduation, the Huskies rotation looks to be as good as ever this season, largely due to the return of ace Carson Cross, who missed all of last season with a shoulder injury. The right-handed senior captain will look to turn in an even better season than his 2013 campaign, where he went 9-4 with a 2.44 ERA in 110.2 innings. After working hard all last season to recover from his surgery, Penders sees his Friday starter as someone who has returned better than ever before.

“He’s a leader, and he’s looked like his old self. His stuff has looked very good. His command may have even been enhanced,” Pender said of Cross. “He’s going to be really, really good…I’m excited to see him make his second debut for us on Friday night.

Left-hander Anthony Kay and senior captain Jordan Tabakman round out the rest of the weekend rotation for the Huskies. Kay shined in his freshman year last season, appearing in 18 games and making eight starts, going 5-4 with a 3.49 ERA. Tabakman started 14 games last year, going 4-4 in 76.2 innings with a 3.40 ERA.

In the bullpen, Patrick Ruotolo returns after a freshman season in which he was tied for the lead in saves alone with Kay with two. However, Ruotolo will not be available for the series against the Owls due to a three-game suspension he received in November for a violation of team rules. With his absence, hitter-turned-pitcher Nico Darras will likely be the one to close games out this weekend. After hitting .241 in 41 games last year, the transfer from Cal State-Fullerton has switched positions and seen immediate success.

“He converted himself from a bat to really almost a submarine style sidearmer,” Penders said of Darras. “He’s got great feel for it, he’s got a great demeanor for late innings, and he may get an opportunity to close games out this weekend.”

 

The Huskies will certainly have their hands full with FAU as they wish to win their first season opener since an 8-0 win over Indiana in 2012. The Owls return eight of nine starters on a team that went 28-25 last season, including Brendan Sanger, who led the Owls with a .332 batting and .451 on base percentage last season.

FAU’s rotation will provide a test right away for the UConn lineup with their ability to pound the strike zone. Last season, the Owls finished the season 13th in the country with a 2.82 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and was 20th in walks allowed per nine innings with 2.67.

Despite the disadvantages of being a baseball program in the Northeast, Penders believes his team is ready to overcome these obstacles and compete with the Owls right from the start.

“We may have it a little bit tougher in that we’ve been fielding balls always with some walls around us and a ceiling above us, but we have to figure out a way to close that gap quickly,” Penders said. “Hopefully we get off to a good start. I just want to play three clean games this weekend, and we have the personnel that can do that.”