University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Ohio State University
HookC Begins 2023 Season In Sunshine State vs. Ohio State
2/17/2023 11:23:00 AM | Baseball
Video | MIXLR | Game Notes
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - The UConn baseball team begins the the 2023 season with a four-game series against Ohio State in the Snowbird Classic. Opening Day starts Friday, February 17 with a 7 p.m. match up at CoolToday Park, spring training home of the Atlanta Braves, in Venice, Fla. Saturday and Sunday the Huskies and Buckeyes will play at Ed Smith Stadium, spring training home of the Baltimore Orioles, with both games beginning at 4 p.m. The series finale culminates at Centennial Park in Port Charlotte, Fla. at 11 a.m. All four games will be video streamed on FloSports while audio streams will once again be on MIXLR with Chris Jones on the call.Â
The Huskies are coming off a historic 2002 campaign that saw UConn win a program record 50 games, capture both the BIG EAST regular season and tournament titles, winning the College Park Regional to advance to the program's second-ever Super Regional and earning the school's first-ever win in Super Regionals with a Game 1 victory against No. 2 Stanford. With the Huskies one win away from the 2022 College World Series, the program is gearing up to break the door down in 2023.Â
UConn enters the 2023 season as the preseason favorites in the BIG EAST Conference and were picked 30th in the NCBWA preseason poll, 31st in the Collegiate Baseball Poll. D1Baseball.com selected the Huskies as "Next 10 Teams" after revealing its Preseason Top 25 rankings.Â
The Huskies return five every day players in the field with team captain 2B David Smith, 1B Ben Huber, SS Bryan Padilla, OF T.C. Simmons and OF Korey Morton. Morton and Huber were both selected to the Preseason All-BIG EAST team while Smith has earned Preseason All-American honors from Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA.Â
Morton returns after leading the team with a .411 AVG in 41 games last season. The First Team All-BIG EAST performer in 2022 added 11 doubles, six homers and 28 RBIs. Huber led the team with with 69 runs scored and 66 runs batted in last season. Huber's 11 long balls is the most by any returning Husky.Â
Smith hit .307 with 78 hits, 64 runs scored and led the team with five triples. The Collegeville, Pa. earned Second Team All-BIG EAST honors in 2022. Padilla and Simmons were staples up the middle for the Huskies last season with Simmons playing in all 66 games with the majority in center field. Padilla made his UConn debut in the fifth game of the season in 2022 and never looked back, playing the remainder of the season at short.Â
The Huskies lose back stop Matt Donlan (signed by Boston Red Sox) but return back stop Matt Garbowski. The New Fairfield, Conn. native played in 20 games and made 13 starts but injuries hampered him for the second half of the season. He did return for a pinch-hit appearance against Georgetown late in the regular season and delivered a bases-clearing go-ahead double with the Huskies down to their final out. Ryan Hyde has continued to get better offensively and shown leadership behind the dish and will get innings behind the plate for the Huskies.Â
RHP Ian Cooke was picked as the Preseason BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year honors after going 7-1 with a 3.64 ERA in his freshman season. Cooke earned Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American honors after logging 54.1 innings while striking out 54. Cooke will start on the mound on Opening Day against Ohio State. Jack Sullivan will start game two of the weekend after a superb season out of the UConn bullpen in 2022. The right-hander appeared in 21 games and recorded a 0.79 ERA while pitching 22.2 innings and striking out 26. The sophomore right-handers will be followed in the rotation by a pair of transfers. LHP Andrew Sears arrives from Rhode Island College where he went 8-1 with a 2.96 ERA last season and RHP Stephen Quigley joins the UConn pitching staff after earning D3 All-American honors at Wheaton College.Â
The pitching staff returns key arms RHP Justin Willis, RHP Devin Kirby, LHP Garrett Coe, RHP Brady Afthim and LHP Braden Quinn.Â
RHP Austin Peterson, RHP Pat Gallagher, OF Casey Dana, OF Erick Stock, C Matt Donlan, RHP Enzo Stefanoni, INF Zach Bushling, RHP Cole Chudoba and 1B/lHP Reggie Crawford are all gone from last year's squad but UConn is bringing in some key newcomers from the transfer portal and high school ranks.
INF/RHP Dominic Freeberger (UNC Asheville) and former UConn player Luke Broadhurst (Eastern Connecticut) will battle early on for playing time at third base with the other possibly filling the designated hitter spot. D3 All-American Paul Tammaro (SUNY Oswego) will also factor in on the infield with freshmen Ryan Daniels (St. Paul Catholic) and Maddix Dalena (Montoursville Area). OF Jake Studley (Wheaton College) and freshman OF Niko Brini (Boston College High School) will get first look for the remaining spot in the UConn outfield. OF Drew Kron could be a weapon off the bench with his legs and his defensive ability (Xavier High School) Â
 RHP Michael Quigley (UMass Lowell), RHP Will Nowak (Hartford), LHP Zach Fogell (Brown) will be key transfer arms for the Huskies. Redshirt freshman RHP Tommy Ellisen, sophomore Joe Carrea and  freshman RHP Jude Abbadessa will be young arms that could see time on the bump for the Huskies.
The Huskies will face an Ohio State team that is under new leadership with Bill Mosiello coming over from TCU. Mosiello brings with him a wealth of College Wolrd Series experience as him and his staff look to turn around a team that went 21-30 last season and are picked seventh in the Big Ten D1Baseball.com preview. Ace LHP Isaiah Coupet and OF Kade Kern are considered top prospects in the Big Ten for the 2023 draft while OF Trey Lipsey is a top prospect for the 2024 draft.Â
UConn is 4-8 all-time against the Buckeyes with the last meeting coming in 2014. The last victory against Ohio State came in 2013. UConn is 11-3 against Big Ten teams since the start of the 2019 season.
