Nestled beyond the Rizza Performance Center and the UConn Volleyball Center is Elliot Ballpark, where the UConn baseball team, fondly nicknamed the Hook C — after the decal on their caps — resides.
Jim Penders, a 1966 graduate of UConn, leads this squad and has been a key component in building the program from the ground up.
Penders has even made a little bit of history throughout his 20-year career in Storrs. In May of 2019, a game against Tulane secured the skipper his 577th win, making him the winningest coach in UConn baseball history. Throughout his tenure, he had 72 players become major leaguers. Some notable names include Matt Barnes, George Springer and Mike Olt.
The UConn baseball team has always been known around Connecticut to deliver red-hot results throughout the season, but they did especially well last spring in the postseason.
Even though they failed to clinch the Big East tournament title after losses to Xavier and Georgetown in extra innings, the team earned a record-setting sixth-straight bid to the Norman Regional in the NCAA Tournament.
In the tournament opener on May 12, the Huskies bested the No. 12 ranked Duke Blue Devils 4-1, courtesy of junior Braden Quinn’s work on the bump. He recorded three shutout innings, five strikeouts and zero walks. Freshman Tyler Minick sealed the deal for the Huskies with a solo home run, pushing his team to the winner’s bracket game against No. 9 ranked Oklahoma.
The star of the show for the Huskies against Oklahoma was Luke Broadhurst with a three-run homer in the seventh inning, extending the score to 4-0. Winning the game for the Huskies, starting pitcher Stephen Quigley had a gem of a game for Connecticut, pitching eight straight innings, allowing only one run, two strikeouts and a walk. The Hook C finished off the Sooners with a 4-1 win, putting the Huskies up in the series 1-0.
Even though the Huskies suffered a loss the next day, they did not stop there. In the series’ third game, they scored seven runs, with multiple players going yard including Minick, Maddix Dalena and Luke Broadhurst, finishing the game 7-1. Quigley finished the game with five outs, sending the Hook C to the Super Regionals to face Florida State.
Even though the Huskies’ season was cut short after losing 10-8 to Florida State in the Super Regionals, they closed their season in the top-25 rankings for Division I college baseball.
There is no doubt among UConn fans that the players of the Hook C will continue to etch their names in the history books for the program and the professionals, making their games a must-see whenever you step foot on campus.
Whether it be for a fall-ball game, a regular season game, under the lights or a nice sunny afternoon, it is always the perfect day for a game at Elliot Ballpark.