The UConn Fast Break - 6/6/2023
Baseball season is over. The long march to fall begins.
Welcome to this week’s Fast Break, and thank you for being a subscriber. We are on to NC State (August 31st).
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Baseball season ends in regional
The 2022-23 UConn athletic year has come to an end, as the baseball program finished third in the Gainesville Regional after being eliminated by No. 2 Florida on Sunday.
The Gators have three high draft picks on the mound in Wyatt Langford, Jac Caglianone, and Hutson Waldrep who overwhelmed Garrett Coe and the rest of the Huskies.
UConn’s offense was also uncharacteristically quiet against Texas Tech in the tournament opener, where the Huskies faced another high-round pick in Mason Molina. The Huskies got a clutch pitching performance from Stephen Quigley and Zach Fogell, but couldn’t put enough on the board as they fell to the losers’ bracket.
UConn broke out against Florida A&M and secured a win to stay alive and avoid an 0-2 performance in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.
Ian Cooke and Andrew Sears were missing, which greatly reduced the Huskies’ depth. When combined with the sheer number of at-bats and innings Jim Penders needed to replace, the team likely reached its ceiling for 2023.
Starting now until August, The Fast Break news update will come out every other week. We are also beginning to bolster our men’s basketball reporting and are excited to keep tabs on the NBA Draft, NBA Summer League, and recruiting updates over the next few months.
UConn visits the White House
Weekly Rewind
Men’s Basketball
Jackson stays in the Draft – Andre Jackson’s departure leaves a large hole on the roster.
Ollie gets NBA gig – Kevin Ollie is joining the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant coach.
Newton’s new role – Tristen Newton announced his return to the Huskies.
Women’s Basketball
Stock Watch ($) – Overview of the returning players for next season.
Recruiting ($) – The latest news on the Huskies’ recruiting efforts this summer.
UConn WBB Weekly – Geno’s squad has begun summer workouts.
Breanna Stewart’s hot start($) – The living legend is doing great on her new team.
Baseball
Huskies’ Resilience – UConn notched a lot of comeback wins throughout the regular season.
Huskies selected to Gainesville Regional – UConn earned its fifth straight NCAA tournament bid.
UConn falls to Texas Tech – The Huskies’ late-game comeback fell short as they lost 3-2 to the Red Raiders.
Huskies’ hitting struggles – UConn’s offensive struggles led to the Texas Tech loss.
UConn eliminates Florida A&M – The Huskies bounced back on Saturday to defeat the Rattlers 9-6.
Huskies eliminated from NCAA Tournament – UConn’s tournament dreams ended on Sunday in an 8-2 loss to No.2 Florida.
Hook C Newsletter – The go-to spot for all the latest news surrounding UConn baseball.
Hockey
UConn’s season in numbers($) – A breakdown of all the numbers and statistics that defined the Huskies season.
Support the most in-depth coverage of UConn men’s hockey around!
The UConn Hockey Hub
Highlights
Former Husky baseball star Reggie Crawford made his home debut for the minor league San Jose Giants. He threw two scoreless innings with no walks and one hit while striking out three. Highlights here.
Memory Lane
One year ago on Tuesday, the Huskies dogpiled in College Park. After No. 15 Maryland forced a winner-take-all Game 7 in the College Park Regional on Sunday, UConn jumped out to a big 9-1 lead over the Terrapins, but the hosts came back and got as close as 10-8 before Justin Willis shut the door.
It was the Huskies’ fourth Regional final since 2011 and the second time the program had come away victorious, after 2011.
Look back at our coverage from UConn’s NCAA Tournament run last year.
UConn, Great Pic
Baseball season comes to an end. Pics from @UConnBSB on Twitter.
Parting Thoughts
Conference realignment rumors are gaining steam, with UConn frequently mentioned as a potential suitor for a Big 12 Conference that’s looking to expand.
Nobody has any idea what’s going to happen, but that hasn’t stopped the deluge of prognosticators, self-proclaimed experts, college sports fans with the CEO/cash grind brain virus, Twitter grifters, and a host of clueless reporters from weighing in on the possibilities. The vast majority of the info you’re seeing from those people is crap.
The best strategy for those of us on the outside is to simply not think about it. We’re not likely to get any meaningful hints or clues, and there’s nothing you can do or could have done differently to affect this outcome besides inventing the time machine and convincing the leadership at Connecticut Agricultural College to take football much more seriously back in the early-1900s.
If it happens, we’ll have a lot to talk about. If not, you got all worked up for no reason.
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