Two future Huskies following familiar path

A surge of adrenaline overtook Ryan Daniels and Gavin Greger each time George Springer stepped to the plate in the American League Championship Series for the Houston Astros.

It didn’t matter that the announcers didn’t mention the outfielder’s path from tearing it up at Avon Old Farms to putting on a show at UConn en route to being selected in the first round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft. Daniels and Greger certainly know all about Springer’s journey to becoming one of the most feared postseason hitters in the game and that of Jack Sundberg, another outfielder who went from Avon Old Farms to UConn without missing a beat.

“You consider just Springer and Sundberg alone, that occupies about seven years of centerfielders for him and six years for us,” Avon Old Farms baseball coach Robert Dowling said.

There won’t be an Avon Old Farms alum patrolling the outfield the next time the UConn baseball team plays a game, but there certainly could be one during the 2022 season. Greger, a former Bristol Central pitcher/ outfielder, is one of three Connecticut products in the Class of 2022 already committed to the Huskies.

“You look at their history going back to Avon Old Farms, and UConn and it makes you want to be that next guy that went to

Avon Old Farms, went to UConn and now is getting drafted to play professional baseball,” Greger said. “It is something that is special and one day I can say I am the category with two of those guys in the way I went to Avon Old Farms just like them and hopefully get drafted just like them.”

Greger was not only the first of the Nutmeg State products to say yes to veteran UConn coach Jim Penders’ recruiting pitch, but he also did everything in his power to make sure he would not be heading to Storrs alone.

Daniels, an infielder from Meriden who Greger has known since he was 10, had originally committed to Stetson but he switched a couple of months back to become a UConn pledge. Xavier two-sport star Drew Kron, who played on the same summer team as Greger, also is a future Husky.

“Since I was the first, I was always trying to bribe the other guys, ‘hey I know UConn is looking at you, we should do this together,’” Greger said. “They talked it out and we all kind of decided that UConn is the place.”

It’s not unusual for UConn to have at least three state natives in its recruiting classes. There was a minimum of three freshmen from Connecticut on the Huskies’ roster eight times in a nine years including five each on the 2018, 2019, and 2020 rosters. There are five more state products committed in the Class of 2021. But to