Region Preview: No. 3 Connecticut

Connecticut, the champions from the Big East, are the No. 3 seed in the College Park regional. The Huskies’ 2022 record was 46-13 and 16-5 in-conference, good for 43rd in the RPI rankings.

Connecticut faced fewer good teams in the regular season, only playing one Q1 game all season, good for the No. 181 strength of schedule in the NCAA. The majority of its matchups came in Q4, where the Huskies went 29-4. Connecticut’s best series win — the second-to-last series of the regular season — came against Xavier, the No. 62 team in RPI. A week later, though, the Huskies were swept by Georgetown, the No. 137 team in the country.

Sophomore outfielder Korey Morton leads Connecticut with a .442 batting average but only played in 34 games for the team. Senior two-way player Erik Stock, who started all but one game for the Huskies, hit for a .375 average. Leading the team in home runs, with 11, are graduate students, two-way player Ben Huber and utility player Casey Dana. Huber also led Connecticut in RBIs (57).

Senior pitcher Austin Peterson is the No. 1 starter for the Huskies with a 3.22 ERA in 100.2 innings pitched. The No. 2 starter, sophomore Pat Gallagher, has a 3.21 ERA in 89.2 innings. Sophomore Garrett Coe appears to be Connecticut’s first choice out of the bullpen with a 2.56 ERA in 31.2 innings.