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Survey of Jim Penders and UConn baseball’s dominance of the northeast

Once Penders got UConn baseball rolling, they have been the class of the region.

Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog

UConn baseball is the class of the northeast. That much is clear. The Huskies have made eight NCAA Tournaments and two Super Regionals, with 10 winning seasons since 2010, not including a COVID-19 shortened 2020.

Of those eight Regional appearances, four came via at-large selection from the NCAA Tournament committee. This is notable because most at-large teams come from either the Power 4 conferences (ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC) or from teams that have consistent access to early-season and midweek matchups against teams in those leagues, such as the Sun Belt. UConn has neither.

While the original Big East, which featured Louisville and USF, was consistently a multi-bid league, and its successor, the American Athletic Conference, included frequent Regional host ECU and also sent three to four teams to the tournament each year, non-conference play is difficult for UConn and other northern teams.

There is a lack of institutional investment in baseball around the region due to this, as teams regularly have to travel to the south or west for the first six weeks of the year before the weather breaks and schools can play locally. This large expense, combined with less talent to go around, helps prevent baseball powers from developing in this area. As a result, keeping strength of schedule high tends to involve a lot of guesswork, which makes it difficult for any team in the region to secure an at-large bid, let alone one school doing it consistently.

This makes Jim Penders’ job at UConn all the more impressive. He’s clearly valued at the university, as he was given a five-year contract extension shortly after the 2022 season ended.

Penders assumed the head coach position in 2004 and took a few years to get the team truly going, ending a 16-year drought by getting back to the NCAA Tournament in 2010. Since then, the Huskies have been better than anyone else in the Northeast.

There are 53 Division I baseball programs in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. These are states that are inclusive of potential midweek opponents and also roughly follow the Huskies’ recruiting footprint.

Most of these teams are part of small one-bid leagues, including the Ivy League, MAAC, and Northeast Conference, in addition to all but one school in the America East and Patriot League, as well as a portion of the Atlantic 10. While Boston College is part of the ACC, those in these smaller conferences invest less in athletics overall, limiting funds for the baseball programs, particularly in the uphill battle to success.

UConn, which has a 458-284-3 record since 2010, has the most wins among those 53 schools. The next closest, Bryant, has 412. This also comes to a .617 winning percentage, with the Bulldogs representing the only other program that has played .600 ball since 2010. In fact, only 17 schools, not including LIU, which does not have any athletic history prior to 2020 on its website, have a winning record in this timeframe.

While regular-season success is great, this trend also extends to the NCAA Tournament. UConn’s eight bids to the NCAA Tournament is tops in the region, as is its four at-large appearances. St. John’s is the only other team with multiple at-large bids and the region as a whole has just 10 such bids over the past 12 tournaments.

The Huskies have also racked up 17 victories in the NCAA Tournament, with the next-closest team seven wins behind UConn. Two Super Regional appearances (2011 and 2022) also paces the region, which has just five as a whole.

Northeast College Baseball Programs Since 2010

School Wins Losses Games Winning Percentage NCAA Tournaments Automatic Qualification At-Large Qualification Tournament Wins Super Regionals CWS
School Wins Losses Games Winning Percentage NCAA Tournaments Automatic Qualification At-Large Qualification Tournament Wins Super Regionals CWS
UConn 460 285 745 0.617 8 4 4 17 2011, 2022
Bryant 412 268 680 0.606 3 3 0 1
St. John's 406 278 684 0.594 6 3 3 10 2012
Stony Brook 400 276 675 0.592 3 3 0 8 2012 2012
LIU 62 43 105 0.590 1 1 0 0
Canisius 393 296 688 0.570 3 3 0 0
Seton Hall 358 299 657 0.545 1 1 0 1
Army 352 297 649 0.542 6 6 0 1
Dartmouth 251 217 468 0.536 1 1 0 1
Marist 321 280 601 0.534 1 1 0 0
CCSU 329 299 627 0.524 4 4 0 1
Monmouth 330 302 632 0.522 0 0 0 0
Pitt 343 317 660 0.520 0 0 0 0
Penn 249 233 481 0.517 0 0 0 0
Fairfield 328 309 637 0.515 1 0 1 2
Columbia 264 253 517 0.511 5 5 0 6
Northeastern 338 326 663 0.509 2 1 1 0
Rhode Island 337 335 671 0.501 1 1 0 1
Binghamton 294 299 593 0.496 4 4 0 0
St. Joseph's 305 319 624 0.489 0 0 0 0
Rutgers 320 336 656 0.488 0 0 0 0
Fordham 322 345 667 0.483 1 1 0 0
Maine 310 341 651 0.476 1 1 0 1
Rider 299 337 635 0.470 2 2 0 0
Yale 222 259 480 0.461 1 1 0 2
Lehigh 278 330 607 0.457 1 1 0 0
Manhattan 289 349 638 0.453 2 2 0 0
Holy Cross 274 335 609 0.450 1 1 0 1
Sacred Heart 297 373 669 0.443 3 3 0 0
Hofstra 266 347 613 0.434 1 1 0 0
Boston College 284 374 658 0.432 1 0 1 4 2016
Penn State 270 360 630 0.429 0 0 0 0
Cornell 189 253 442 0.428 1 1 0 0
Wagner 269 365 633 0.424 0 0 0 0
UMass Lowell 175 240 415 0.422 0 0 0 0
Albany 253 352 605 0.418 0 0 0 0
Bucknell 247 350 597 0.414 2 2 0 1
Merrimack 43 63 105 0.405 0 0 0 0
Hartford 248 377 624 0.397 1 1 0 0
NJIT 247 378 625 0.395 1 1 0 1
Siena 252 392 644 0.391 1 1 0 1
Harvard 182 285 467 0.390 1 1 0 0
Villanova 235 375 609 0.385 0 0 0 0
UMass 206 347 553 0.373 0 0 0 0
St. Bonaventure 203 344 546 0.371 0 0 0 0
Quinnipiac 222 390 612 0.363 1 1 0 1
Niagara 219 388 606 0.361 0 0 0 0
Princeton 158 302 459 0.343 2 2 0 0
Fairleigh Dickinson 207 399 606 0.342 0 0 0 0
Lafayette 178 394 572 0.311 0 0 0 0
Brown 133 312 445 0.299 0 0 0 0
Iona 166 413 579 0.287 0 0 0 0
St. Peter's 123 463 586 0.210 0 0 0 0
Ties counted as one half win and one half loss. Teams sorted by winning percentage.