Huskies keep rolling
Team approach lifted UConn to regional victory
Austin Peterson, the UConn ace who had thrown 109 pitches in Friday night’s win over Wake Forest, approached Jim Penders prior to the Huskies’ College Park Regional bout with Maryland and let him know he was ready to pitch again.
“Hey, I’m up,” he told the UConn head coach.
“No,” Penders replied, “you’re not.”
This was, after all, prior to the Huskies’ game against Maryland on Sunday night, not Monday night. Yes, Peterson, the 6-foot-6 righthander who could be an early-round MLB Draft pick next month, was willing to take the ball on one days’ rest. “I’m up,” he continued. “No, you’re not,” Penders replied. “But maybe tomorrow.”
“Definitely tomorrow,” Peterson said, “but I’m up (Sunday).”
There was no way Penders was going to allow Peterson to pitch Sunday night. He didn’t, and the Huskies lost, setting up Monday night’s win-or-gohome game with Maryland at Bob Smith Stadium. Peterson came out of the bullpen in the fifth inning and gutted out 21⁄3 innings and 50 pitches of relief, ultimately earning his program record-tying 11th win of the season as UConn outlasted the Terrapins 11-8.
And now UConn (49-14) is heading to an NCAA Super Regional for the first since 2011, when future MLBers George Springer, Matt Barnes and Nick Ahmed dotted the roster. The Huskies will face No. 2-ranked Stanford at its home ballpark, beginning on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. (EST).
The Cardinal (45-15) hosted their own regional this past weekend but were stretched to the brink by a game Texas State team that beat Stanford on Saturday, then held a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth on Monday. Stanford got back-toback homers to tie the game, then won on a walkoff single by Trevor Haskins to move on.
“They did it the hard way, so they’re battle-tested,” Penders said of the Cardinal. “We’re gonna have to earn our way to Omaha, that’s for sure. To go through one of the bluebloods of college baseball is going to be a tough task. But, like I said, I like our chances against anybody, if
we play the way we played this weekend.”
The Huskies regional championship was emblematic of their entire season, really. With prospective high draft pick Reggie Crawford sidelined the entire season following Tommy John surgery, UConn found different stars to step up virtually game to game. This past weekend, no one stepped up bigger than Guilford’s Matt Donlan, the cannonarmed catcher who hit a grand slam in the first inning on Monday night, drove in five runs and earned Regional Most Outstanding Player honors.
But he was hardly alone. On Monday, Bryan Padilla had three hits and seven different Huskies drove in at least one run. New Milford’s Ian Cooke started on the mound and allowed two earned runs to the hard-hitting Terps over 42⁄3 innings. And, of course, there were a couple of gutsy efforts out of the bullpen.
When Peterson told Penders he was ready on Monday, the coach made him look him in the eye and repeat it a few times.
“Normally, I don’t have those conversations, I leave them up to (pitching coach) Josh MacDonald, who does a great job with the staff,” Penders said. “But I needed to see it in his eyes after he threw. He said, ‘Coach, my arm feels great. I’m good to go. I’ll be honest with you and I’ll tell you when I’m done.’ ”
After getting through
the seventh, Peterson told Penders that was it. The coach tried to squeeze an inning out of Brady Afthim, but when Afthim didn’t have it, he turned to closer Justin Willis.
Willis had earned the win Friday night with 12⁄3 innings of scoreless relief, and he was campaigning to pitch again on Sunday, as well. As with Peterson, Penders wasn’t having it.
On Monday, Willis earned the six-out, spotless save, his 15th.
“This is the kind of stuff, when you’re around young people like that, it helps keep me young,” said Penders, who’s in his 19th season at the Huskies’ helm. “My cardiologist might disagree with that statement, but it’s true. They keep you young at heart. It was just awesome.”
Both Peterson and Willis will likely have professional careers, maybe even in the majors. Yet both were willing to pitch on one days’ rest for the sake of their team.
“It’s just powerful stuff,” Penders continued. “That’s why we’re all involved with team sports. When you’re part of something larger than yourself, it’s just so satisfying. I just wish that more people in the world could experience team sports, because I think we’d live in a better society if they did.”
“I don’t think I’m overstating it,” he added. “To sacrifice for a team, for something bigger than yourself, it means so much more.”
On to Stanford.