University of Connecticut Athletics
Postseason Play Begins Wednesday in Clearwater, Fla.
5/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 23, 2011
STORRS, Conn. - The UConn baseball team will be the No. 1 seed in the 2011 BIG EAST Baseball Championship, which begins Wednesday, May 25 in Clearwater, Fla. The Huskies will face No. 8 seed Notre Dame in the 8:00 p.m. game on the opening day of postseason play. A complete schedule of the tournament can be found at BIGEASTBaseball.com.
QUICK HITS ON THE UCONN HUSKIES
- The UConn baseball team enters the BIG EAST Baseball Championship with a 39-15-1 overall record. The Huskies will face Notre Dame at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25.
- UConn clinched its first-ever BIG EAST baseball regular-season championship title with a 7-5 win over Louisville on Saturday, May 14. The Huskies finished the regular season 22-5 in conference play.
In 1985, the Huskies finished at the top of the league's North Division in the BIG EAST's first season, but the conference did not officially crown a regular-season champion until the 1990 season.
- After its 9-5 win over USF on Sunday, May 8, UConn was the first team to claim a spot in the 2011 BIG EAST Baseball Championship in Clearwater, Fla.
FOLLOWING THE HUSKIES
UConn's postseason games can be heard live on WTIC.com as well as WHUS.org/91.7 FM starting with Wednesday's 8:00 p.m. contest. Live statistics are available as well as a free webcast, which will provided by the BIG EAST Conference. Stats and video can be found at BIGEASTBaseball.com.
`LUCKY 13'
UConn is making its 13th appearance in the BIG EAST Baseball Championship since joining the league in 1985.
NUMBER ONE
UConn enters the postseason tournament as the No. 1 seed and will face the eighth-seeded team, Notre Dame in its first game of the 2011 postseason. UConn has never faced the Irish in BIG EAST Championship Tournament play.
UCONN IN THE BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
UConn is 24-20 all-time in BIG EAST Baseball Champi¬onship games. The Huskies have made an appearance in postseason play in four of the last five seasons, including three straight.
GOING THE DISTANCE
UConn has played in the BIG EAST Baseball Champion¬ship final game in three out of the last four seasons. In 2007, UConn was the eighth seed and battled its way to the final, falling to Rutgers 7-6 in the title game.
After not making it to the tournament in 2008, UConn worked its way to the final in 2009 as the No. 6 seed but fell to Louisville 11-3. In 2010, the Huskies fell to St. John's 3-0 in the title game.
FINISHING ON TOP
The Huskies have only won the BIG EAST Tournament title twice in the 25 years of BIG EAST Championship play prior to the 2011 season. UConn won the title in 1990 and then in 1994. The Huskies have finished as runner-up five times and have done so in their last three tournament appearances. The 2011 Huskies are the first to bring home the BIG EAST Regular Season Championship title to UConn.
THROWING THE FIRST PITCH
UConn's pitching staff has posted an ERA of 2.79 in 2011. The Huskies' starting hurlers are 32-11 this season with a 2.37 ERA. Matt Barnes and Greg Nappo lead the Huskies on the mound as they both have recorded 24 or more wins, 200 or more strike¬outs and over 225 innings pitched in their career.
UCONN VS.
Below are the all-time records vs. BIG EAST opponents during the BIG EAST Baseball postseason championship tournament: Cincinnati: 2-0 Georgetown: 1-0 Louisville: 0-2 Notre Dame: n/a Pittsburgh: 3-0 Rutgers: 2-4St. John's: 1-5 Seton Hall: 7-6 USF: 4-0 Villanova: 2-0 WVU: 1-0 Providence*: 1-3 *-Providence no longer has a baseball program
THE HITS KEEP COMING
UConn's John Andreoli went on a 21-game hitting streak but his run was recently ended as he went 0-for-4 in UConn's 6-3 loss to Louisville on Saturday, May 14. George Springer's 21-game hit streak was snapped on Friday, April 29. Springer and Billy Fer¬riter are both on a seven-game hit streak, currently the team's best.
LEADING THE WAY
George Springer is batting .379 and has a team-best 72 RBI, 77 hits and 12 home runs to lead the Huskies this season. He also has hit 22 doubles on the year. Mike Nemeth is batting .335 in 55 games with 71 hits, 42 runs scored and 43 RBI.
Matt Barnes earned his 10th win of the season on Friday, May 13 with a 6-2 victory over Louisville at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Conn. He becomes the third Husky in program history to record 10 or more wins in a single season, joining Tom Germano (11, 1976; 10, 1977) and Colin McLaughlin (12, 1979) on that list.
On Thursday, May 19, the junior recorded his 11th win of the season and 24th of his career. With 24 career victories, Barnes now sits in second place among all-time Huskies in wins in a career and is two shy of Germano's first-place tally of 26.
He is currently 11-3 on the year with a 1.11 ERA. He struck out a season-high 11 batters in UConn's 3-2 loss to Minnesota (2/19) and in his last start, struck out six in 6.0 innings of work.
BIG EAST WEEKLY AWARDS
March 14 - Matt Barnes (Pitcher of the Week)
April 4 - Nick Ahmed (Player of the Week)
April 25 - George Springer (Player of the Week)
May 2 - George Springer (Player of the Week)
BIG EAST WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
Feb. 28 - Greg Nappo
March 7 - Matt Barnes
March 14 - Mike Nemeth
April 4 - Matt Barnes
April 11 - Ryan Fuller
April 18 - LJ Mazzilli
April 25 - Matt Barnes
May 2 - Greg Nappo
May 9 - Matt Barnes
May 16 - Matt Barnes
May 23 - Doug Elliot, Kevin Vance
IN THE RECORD BOOKS
Mike Nemeth is UConn's all-time leader in hits (309), RBI (203) and doubles (64). The senior also owns the UConn single-season records for hits (98), runs batted in (84) and games played (64), all of which were tallied in 2010.
Ryan Fuller has recorded 23 doubles in 2011 as he now owns UConn's single-season record in that category, surpassing Mike Nemeth's mark of 22, which was recorded in 2010.
George Springer ranks first in runs scored in the UConn career record books with 210. He also ranks first in home runs with 46 in his career as he recorded his 12th homer of the season at Cincin¬nati last weekend.
In UConn's single-season record book, Springer owns the top spot in runs scored with 84 and walks with 60, both of which he recorded in 2010.
Kevin Vance ranks second in career saves with 20. His 12 in 2011 tie former Husky David Erickson with the most in a single-season.
HOME SWEET HOME
The Huskies finished the regular season 17-2-1 at home in 2011. UConn won 15 of its final 16 games at home dating back to its 9-1 win over St. John's on April 2.
ROAD WARRIORS
In 2011, UConn is 2-6 in neutral site games and 20-6 on an opponent's home field. UConn finished the 2010 regular season with a 21-6 record on the road. On the year, the Huskies were 7-4 at neutral sites, which included 2010 BIG EAST postseason play.
