University of Connecticut Athletics
Preseason American BSB: Huskies Picked Third, Wurster All-Conference
12/30/2019 3:00:00 PM | Baseball
STORRS, Conn. - The American Athletic Conference announced its preseason awards and poll, as voted on by the league's coaches, on Thursday. The Huskies have been picked to finish third (49 points) while redshirt sophomore left hander Caleb Wurster was voted to the Preseason All-Conference team.
The Huskies tied for fourth place in The American in 2019 with a 12-12 league record and reached The American Championship game for the third time in the past four seasons. UConn captured its second-straight at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and closed 2019 with a 39-25 record after reaching the final game in the NCAA Oklahoma City Regional.
Wurster secures the lone relief pitcher spot on the All-Conference team after being part of the Huskies three-headed monster in the bullpen in 2019. Primarily used a set up man, he set the UConn single-season appearances record with 36. The Coventry, R.I. native went 5-1 with a 2.66 ERA and converted one save. He pitched 47.1 innings for the Huskies while striking out 40 and holding opponents to a .188 AVG against.
The Huskies begin the 2020 campaign at the MLB4 Tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz. against Cal Poly on Friday, Feb. 14 at 4 p.m. ET.
Preseason Poll
|
1 |
ECU (6) |
62 |
|
2 |
Houston (3) |
54 |
|
3 |
UConn |
49 |
|
4 |
Tulane |
38 |
|
5 |
UCF |
37 |
|
6 |
Cincinnati |
33 |
|
7 |
USF |
20 |
|
8 |
Memphis |
19 |
|
9 |
Wichita State |
12 |
First-place votes in parenthesisÂ
Preseason All-Conference Team
P – Jake Kuchmaner, Jr., ECU*
P – Alec Burleson, Jr., ECU
P – Clay Aguilar, Jr., Houston
P – Lael Lockhart Jr, Sr., Houston
RP – Caleb Wurster, R-So., UConn
C – Hunter Goodman, So., Memphis
1B – Grant Mathews, R-Sr., Tulane
2B – Jonathon Artigues, R-Sr., Tulane
SS – Paxton Wallace, Jr., Wichita State
3B – Alec Trela, Sr., Memphis
OF – Dalton Wingo, Jr., UCF
OF – Alec Burleson, Jr., ECU
OF – Hudson Haskin, So., Tulane
DH – Wyatt Stapp, Jr., Cincinnati
Preseason Player of the Year
Alec Burleson, Jr., ECU
Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Jake Kuchmaner, Jr., ECU
* denotes unanimous decision
