University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
University of Virginia
Baseball Faces Virginia in Midweek Road Tilt
3/19/2019 8:09:00 PM | Baseball
Game Notes | Watch | Listen | Live Stats
Wednesday, March 20 at UVA 4 p.m. EST | Davenport Field
(Colby Dunlop (1-2) vs. Zach Messinger (1-0))
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The UConn baseball team plays its first midweek game of the season on Wednesday, March 20 at 4 p.m. against the University of Virginia. The game can be viewed on ESPN3 on the ACC Network Extra and will be streamed on 91.7 FM WHUS or online at whus.org.
The Huskies enter action on Wednesday riding a season-high four game winning streak after sweeping Michigan State in Greenville, S.C. this past weekend. UConn is 11-6 overall and begins American Athletic Conference play on Friday at Houston.
History vs. Virginia... The Huskies are 2-3 against the Cavaliers in a series that began in 1962. The two programs have not played since 1986. Both programs have taken off since their last meeting with UVA being a consistent threat to reach Omaha. The Wahoos have reached the CWS four times since 2009 including a 2015 National Championship. 2018 was the first time under Brian O'Connor that the Cavaliers missed the NCAA Tournament (Took over in 2004).
Continuity at UVA and UConn... The Huskies and Cavaliers boost the longest tenured coaching staffs in the country including head coach, two paid assistants and volunteer. Both coaching staffs have been together the past eight seasons with Matt Kirby joining on for the start of the 2012 season for UVA and Josh MacDonald and Jeff Hourigan coaching their first seasons in 2012.
Brian O'Connor, Kevin McMullan and Karl Kuhn have been together since the 2004 season, the same length of time as head coach Jim Penders and Chris Podeszwa.
Starters Step Up... Junior Kenny Haus and redshirt freshman Jimmy Wang stepped up this past weekend against Michigan with solid performances on the hill.
The Huskies have struggled to have starters get to the fourth inning and both pitchers were able to work into the fifth inning. Haus picked up his first career win with five innings of work on Saturday; Wang was one out away from factoring into a decision with 4.2 innings of work and only one run allowed.
Woody and Winkel.. The duo of Michael Woodworth and Chris Winkel had a huge series in Greenville with each player driving in seven during the four-game series. Woodworth scored five runs and logged five hits in the series including a monster home run in Sunday's game.
Winkel secured American Conference Weekly honor roll with his seven hits, three doubles and one triple.
B1G Sweep vs. Spartans.. UConn captured its first four-game sweep as a program (123 years) this past weekend against Michigan State in Greenville, S.C.
The Huskies outscored the Spartans 42-14 in the series and never trailed at any point. The Huskies moved to 8-0 all-time at Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive, and are 5-1 against the Big Ten this season.
The Huskies scored a season-high 17 runs in the second game of the series while scoring a season-best six runs in the first inning.
Huskies vs. Atlantic Coast Conference... UConn is 32-25 against current ACC schools since 2010. UConn has notched wins against Clemson, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh.
The Huskies took two-of-three from No. 4 Louisville on Opening Weekend in Lakeland, Fla. The Huskies will play Boston College next week in Storrs.
Rooting for Randy... Redshirt junior Randy Polonia has not pitched since a stellar freshman season in 2016. The Stamford, Conn. native recorded six saves and last pitched against No. 1 Florida on June 4 in the NCAA Tournament. Polonia had Tommy John surgery after the 2016 season that made him miss the 2017 season and last year had a setback while rehabbing that shut him down for 2018 season.
Polonia closed out the 17-4 win against Michigan State on March 16, marking the first time he pitched for the Huskies in 1015 days.
