With each triumph during their 12-game homestand, the UConn baseball team has gotten hotter and hotter. Since Easter weekend, the Huskies have gone 7-2 and collected critical conference series wins over the Xavier Musketeers and St. John’s Red Storm. Connecticut has outscored their opponents 62-30 over their past six games and 99-61 during their current homestand.
The Hook C’s season-long stretch in Storrs concludes tonight in a nonconference clash against the Kansas State Wildcats before heading to Boston for a rematch with the Boston College Eagles tomorrow.
Graduate infielder Paul Tammaro had the game of his career in the series finale against the Red Storm on Sunday. Tammaro tallied a career-best nine RBI that afternoon, three of which came on a series-clinching walk-off blast in the bottom of the ninth inning. With a team-leading .322 batting average and hits in six out of his last seven games, expect UConn’s shortstop to continue doing damage at the dish.
Senior outfielder Korey Morton and graduate third baseman Luke Broadhurst will each do likewise. Both veterans are batting .296, with the latter having recorded a hit in nine out of his last 10 contests. Broadhurst has homered four times and raised his batting average by 90 points in that span. Morton, meanwhile, has been consistent all season. No player has more than the Norwalk native’s 40 hits, and his 23 RBI are second behind his graduate teammate.
Each Nutmeg State native brings as much power to the plate for the Huskies as first baseman Maddix Dalena does. Dalena became the first Connecticut player since Mike Olt in 2010 to have a three-homer game on Friday night and leads the team with eight longballs. With how well he has been seeing the ball recently, the 6-foot-3 sophomore should be able to add on to his 10 RBI in his past five games.
As has been the case with most midweek contests, expect true freshman Ben Schild and Seton Hall transfer Joe Cinnella on the bump. Cinnella, who will likely start tomorrow, did not pitch against the Eagles three weeks ago but will look to limit his walks in Massachusetts. Schild previously pitched 3.1 innings of one-run ball against the Bryant Bulldogs last Tuesday and faces one of his toughest challenges in a potent Kansas State offense.
The Wildcats travel to Storrs for their first-ever meeting against the Hook C after being swept by the Oklahoma Sooners. Despite their 7-8 record in Big 12 play, Kansas State ranks 38th in Warren Nolan’s RPI standings and grabbed their first two wins of the year against UConn’s next two opponents after tonight.
Wichita State transfer Chuck Ingram, who went 3-5 against the Sooners on Sunday, has delivered at the dish in his first year as a Wildcat. Ingram hits for both average and power as his 52 base knocks rank fourth in the Big 12 Conference and his eight home runs complement his .979 OPS.
Redshirt junior Brady Day has as many hits as the Missouri native does in 23 fewer at-bats, and his .394 batting average ranks second in the conference behind Texas Tech’s Damian Bravo. Paired with his team-leading 1.142 OPS and 38 RBI, Day is the most dangerous hitter in the Wildcats’ lineup. The New Hampshire native returns to New England with hits in seven out of his last eight games and a double in three games straight.
Juniors Kaelen Culpepper and Brendan Jones are Kansas State’s other sluggers that have at least a .900 OPS and a .300 batting average. Culpepper whacked six hits in his last four games and leads the team with four triples. Jones is just as fast with 20 stolen bases on 21 attempts.
Expect either sophomore righty Mason Buss or true freshman Blake Dean to take the bump versus the Huskies tonight. Buss saw his ERA rise from 1.93 to 3.18 following his most recent outing against the Wichita State Shockers, but that will not stop him from trying to keep the Huskies off the bases. Dean, meanwhile, struck out 35 batters in 32.2 innings.
Connecticut tallied just five hits, three of which came in the second inning, in their 7-4 defeat against Boston College at Elliot Ballpark on March 26. While Hook C goes on the road for the first time in three weeks, the Eagles are wrapping up a nine-game homestand at Harrington Athletics Village.
Boston College has four qualified hitters batting over .300, including senior outfielder Cameron Leary. The veteran slugger leads the Eagles in several offensive categories with his power. Leary sits in the top 10 in the ACC with 12 longballs, his most recent giving Boston College their lone win against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Saturday. Add in his 18 stolen bases on 19 attempts, and a spot on the All-ACC First Team may be in the senior outfielder’s sights.
There might also be a spot waiting for first baseman Kyle Wolff. The sophomore’s .348 batting average leads the team, and he is one of the Eagles’ top extra-base hit producers with seven homers and 12 doubles. Three of those doubles have come in his last four games, and following a 3-5 afternoon on Sunday, expect Wolff to remain on an extra-base tear.
Keep an eye on junior infielder Nick Wang and senior outfielder Patrick Roche in the heart of Boston College’s order. Both poised hitters are batting .306—with Roche doing so in 23 fewer at-bats—and have three of the Eagles’ eight triples.
Instead of Brian McMonagle on the mound, UConn will likely see senior righty Evan Moore, who pitched four innings against the Northeastern Huskies in his most recent start. If that outing and his 2.1 scoreless innings in relief on Sunday are any indication, it may be hard for the Nutmeg State’s Huskies’ torrid offense to muster anything.
First pitch against the Wildcats tonight is at 6:05 p.m. on CBSSN, while tomorrow’s contest in Chestnut Hill is at 3 p.m. and will be available on MIXLR.