Preview: UConn baseball vs. Florida Atlantic

When:

Friday, March 3, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 4, 4 p.m.

Sunday, March 5, 12 p.m.

Where: FAU Baseball Stadium, Boca Raton, Florida

Radio: Mixlr

Television: FAUSports.tv

Projected UConn Starters:

RHP Ian Cooke

RHP Jack Sullivan

LHP Andrew Sears

Weather Report

Game 1: Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. Wind blowing in from center field, 10-14 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph

Game 2: Sunny, with a high near 88. Wind blowing in from center field 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.

Game 3: A 20 percent chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. Wind blowing out to center field, 6 to 10 mph.

Courtesy of weather.gov

What to Watch For

• UConn’s opponents this week are as hot as any team in the nation. Florida Atlantic is 7-1 on the team with a sweep of Monmouth, a series win over USF and midweek wins over UCF and No. 19 Miami. The Owls have outscored opponents 73-38 over the course of eight games, and own a scorching .317 team batting average. UConn pitchers will have their hands full with a lineup that’s already bashed 91 hits, 21 doubles and 15 home runs so far this season.
• Florida Atlantic’s lineup features hot hitters up and down the order, but the otherworldly production and consistency from utility man Nolan Schanuel and third baseman Jackson Ross stand out to opposing coaches and MLB scouts. Ranked as the No. 24 prospect in college by Prospects Live, Schanuel leads the team in batting (.419) and on-base percentage (.550), while Ross has burst on the scene this season to lead the squad in slugging (.879) and home runs (4). Not to be left out of the conversation, catcher John Schroeder and outfielder Dylan Goldstein are both hitting well over .300.

• UConn, on the other hand, is still looking for consistency two weeks into the 2023 season. The Huskies split their first series of the season against Ohio State, and are coming off a 1-1 weekend in Berkeley, where they scored an emotional 11-10 win over Cal Poly on Friday but laid an egg in a 4-2 loss to Cal on Saturday.
• Florida Atlantic will be, by far, the toughest test of the young season for the new-look Huskies, especially for their pitching staff, which owns a 6.40 staff ERA. Friday starter Ian Cooke has been alright to start the year, but still has yet to reach the same level as the end of last season. Transfer left-hander Andrew Sears owns the best ERA out of the starters, allowing two earned runs in his only start of the season. Stephen Quigley looked good out of the bullpen last weekend against Cal, tossing 3 1/3 shutout innings in relief of Patrick Sullivan, the Game 2 starter who didn’t have the best day at the office.
• Similarly, UConn’s offense has sputtered to start the season. Despite scoring 28 runs in their three wins so far this season, the Huskies’ bats have been quiet overall. UConn’s team average of .241 is well below what we’re used to seeing from the Storrs squad, and strikeouts early in the game have been tabbed by head coach Jim Penders as one cause for the team’s struggles. The first two series haven’t been totally unkind to the entire UConn lineup, however. Outfielder Korey Morton leads the team with a .333 batting average and .792 slugging, while UNC Asheville transfer Dominic Freeberger has gotten off to a good start to his UConn career, slashing .304/.414/.478 and leading the team with nine RBI.