UConn’s Elliot Ballpark could be a field of dreams

STORRS — When the UConn baseball team played at Butler University a couple of weeks ago, the Huskies made a point to take a tour inside historic Hinkle Fieldhouse.

As soon as he stepped inside the hallowed arena, head coach Jim Penders shouted out “Hickory!” — a reference to the movie “Hoosiers,” which was filmed inside Hinkle.

For years, Hinkle hosted the Indiana high school basketball championships, providing every schoolboy hoopster in the Hoosier State at least the dream to someday play there.

Penders would like to see UConn’s sparkling Elliot Ballpark become a similar destination for Connecticut’s high school baseball players.

“There’s something to be said for having that iconic venue in the minds of every kid that swings a bat in Connecticut,” Penders said. “The high school basketball players talk about the ‘Road to Mohegan.’ I want the ‘Road to Storrs.’”

And so, there was Penders a couple of weeks ago, just a couple of hours before UConn’s bout with Yale, giving Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) officials a guid