{"id":59664,"date":"2012-05-04T08:55:31","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T12:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=59664"},"modified":"2012-05-08T08:40:07","modified_gmt":"2012-05-08T12:40:07","slug":"baseball-team-moving-to-position-for-postseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/05\/baseball-team-moving-to-position-for-postseason\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball Team Moving to Position for Postseason"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Senior<\/a>
Senior Pitcher David Fisher '12 (CLAS) has struck out 43 batters in 2012. (Steve Slade '89 (SFA) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the Husky baseball team has enhanced its national profile over the past three years, consistency has been its hallmark. But the ebb and flow of a baseball season can be a roller coaster ride, with spurts of wins mixed with strings of losses, as it is proving to be for head coach Jim Penders\u2019 squad in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t figure out who we\u2019re going to see each day,\u201d Penders says of his team, which has scratched out enough wins to tie for second place in the Big East Conference, with a 12-6 record, 24-20 overall, as it prepares to host Cincinnati for a three game series this weekend.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re still uneven in our performance. It\u2019s difficult as a coach because you preach process.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had terrible process but still are getting good outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Huskies sent nine players from the 2011 team to Major League Baseball, including two first round draft selections, so it is no surprise that the team has worked to find chemistry, which has led to some inconsistent play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to be a good defensive team, but will continue to work at it,\u201d says Penders. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to out-hit and out-pitch teams. You\u2019re going to go into offensive slumps. We\u2019re hard to figure out. As disappointed in our play as I\u2019ve been, I\u2019m pleased with our coming back from behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Nike Showcase in Oregon in early March, the Huskies trailed Oregon State 3-1 after four innings, but fought back to earn a 6-3 win, which Penders described as \u201ca great win, one of our best games.\u201d That weekend, UConn also beat No. 22 Oklahoma 8-7.<\/p>\n

During recent Big East play, the Huskies had what Penders described as \u201ctwo ugly games\u201d against Rutgers that they won by one run, They then traveled to No. 23\/20 Louisville and dropped two games, before winning the last game of the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been able to gut out a lot of tough conference wins,\u201d says Penders. \u201cThat bodes well for postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Outfielder<\/a>
Outfielder Billy Ferriter '12 (CLAS) is the baseball team's leading hitter this season. (Steve Slade '89 (SFA) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Penders credits the core of his lineup for keeping the Huskies moving forward this season, particularly his senior leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan Fuller \u201912 (CLAS), Tim Martin \u201912 (CLAS), and Billy Ferriter \u201912 (CLAS) have been excellent the past month and a half,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have a core of performers and some new players give us a nice lift \u2013 Stanley Paul \u201913 (CLAS) gives us an offensive lift and Jon Testani \u201915 (CLAS) has huge hits for us. But you can\u2019t rely on freshmen to win. The guys who have done the most are the senior captains [Fuller and Joe Pavone \u201912 (BUS)].\u201d<\/p>\n

Fuller is hitting .325, with 3 home runs and 30 runs batted in, and catcher Joe Pavone has rebounded from last year\u2019s knee injury to hit .290 and drive in 18 runs.<\/p>\n

Then there is junior LJ Mazzilli \u201913 (CLAS), who Penders says is meeting the preseason praise he received as one of college baseball\u2019s most talented prospects. Last season he was an All-Big East Second Team selection and honored as a NEIBA Second Team All-Star.<\/p>\n

\u201cLJ leads with his performance. He\u2019s done a very good job. There are a lot of expectations on him to be one of the best players in the conference,\u201d Penders says. \u201cHe\u2019s risen to that and embraced it in the process of fulfilling the prophecy of being one of the elite players in the conference and in the country. Just his ability alone can carry you. He\u2019s going to have to get hot if we\u2019re going reach our goals this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Junior<\/a>
Junior infielder L. J. Mazzilli '13 (CLAS) is fulfilling preseason expectations at the plate and in the field. (Steve Slade '89 (SFA) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The son of former Major League Baseball player, coach, and manager Lee Mazzilli, LJ leads the Huskies in slugging percentage (.584) and has posted a .331 batting average with 9 home runs and 33 RBIs, despite the fact that he has moved from leadoff hitter to batting third, and opposing pitchers are challenging him on every pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year as leadoff, I was trying to get on base a little more, swinging at first pitch strikes,\u201d Mazzilli says. \u201cNow I\u2019m getting pitchers starting leaving things up. I feel like I see [everything but] the kitchen sink up there. You\u2018ve really got to trust yourself that you can hit whatever they throw in the strike zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mazzilli says he has embraced his role as a leader on the young team, and is trying to lead by example.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot being here for three years. You have to lead by example going out by just hustling,\u201d he says. \u201cHustling takes no talent, my Dad always says; just playing the game hard and feed off of [other] people. It\u2019s not just me; it could be a freshman running and diving into first base trying to get a single. The energy picks up from everyone in the dugout.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only the top eight teams in the conference will go to the Big East Tournament May 23-27 in Clearwater, Fla. After the series with Cincinnati (currently in last place), the Huskies will have conference series against South Florida (tied with UConn in second place) and Notre Dame (seventh place), along with single out-of-conference games against Northeastern and Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

With an overall record that likely will not earn an at-large bid to the NCAA World Series, Penders says his team remains focused on its first goal to win the Big East regular season title and be in position to play in the Big East Tournament.<\/p>\n

The Huskies will host Cincinnati this weekend on Saturday for a doubleheader at Dodd Stadium in Norwich starting at 1 p.m. and then on Sunday at J.O. Christian Field in Storrs at noon. Saturday\u2019s doubleheader will be broadcast on WTIC Radio. Those games will also be broadcast on WHUS, which will broadcast Sunday\u2019s game as well. WTIC will broadcast the game against Rhode Island on May 15 at 11 a.m. and the game against Notre Dame on May 18 at 6 p.m., as well as the Huskies\u2019 games during the Big East Tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Husky baseball hosts Cincinnati this weekend, as the team prepares for the end of the regular season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":59698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-59664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 16:40:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59664"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59848,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59664\/revisions\/59848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/59698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59664"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=59664"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=59664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}