The Road to Omaha Continues In Tallahassee - University of Connecticut Athletics (2024)

Game Notes

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The UConn baseball team (35-24) continues its Road to Omaha with a trip to Tallahassee to take on No. 8 Florida State (45-15) in the Super Regionals. The Supers are a best two-out-of three format with the winner advancing to the College World Series. Friday's opener begins at 12 p.m. on ESPN while game two will be an 11 a.m. start on ESPN.

NCAA Experience... The 2024 NCAA Tournament will mark the fourth NCAA Tournament that Korey Morton and Garrett Coe, have played in. Morton has played in 15 career NCAA Tournament games while Coe has pitched in seven. Brady Afthim, Braden Quinn, Jack Sullivan, Ian Cooke, Bryan Padilla, T.C. Simmons all bring Super Regional experience from the 2022 season.

The Huskies also have NCAA Tournament experience on the mound with Ian Cooke, Tommy Ellisen, Stephen Quigley and Coe all making starts in the NCAA Tournament prior to this postseasaon.

Gabe Van Emon and Caleb Shpur bring D3 World Series experience from Endicott and Luke Broadhurst and Matt Malcom bring D3 National Championship experience from their time at Eastern Connecticut State.

First In New England... With the Huskies earning an at-large bid to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, the HookC has reached six-straight Regionals, marking the first time in program history and the first time a Division I program in New England has reached six in a row.

Huskies in NCAAs... UConn is playing in its 25th NCAA Tournament this weekend and is 43-51 all-time. The Huskies have reached 10 NCAA Tournaments since 2010 under head coach Jim Penders and played in three Super Regionals during that stretch in 2011, 2022 and 2024. Under Penders, the Huskies are 21-21 and have won at least a game in all 10 tournaments.

Norman Regional Champs... The Huskies went 3-1 in the Norman Regional to capture the program's third Regional Championship and advance to a second Super Regional in the last three years.

Korey Morton was on fire at the plate for the Huskies, winning Norman Regional Most Outstanding Player after going 9-16 (563) with two doubles, one homer and six RBI.

The main storyline from the Regional was the Huskies pitching and defense. Time after time during the four games the Huskies made highlight reel play after highlight reel play. INF Paul Tammaro, INF Bryan Padilla, 1B Maddix Dalena and OF Caleb Shpur, Korey Morton all helped out its staff by taking away hits and helping get out of jams. The team didn't commit its first error of the tournament until the ninth inning of the final game.

The UConn starting pitching was stellar with Ian Cooke (5.2, 1 R), Stephen Quigley (8 IP, 1 R) and Gabe Van Emon (7.1 IP 0 ER).

The bullpen was strong as well with Braden Quinn earning the save against Duke with 3.1 shutout frames. Brady Afthim shut the door against Oklahoma with a scoreless ninth in the winner's bracket game and Tommy Ellisen, Kieran Finnegan and Joe Cinnella were all strong in the Regional Final loss to the Sooners.

History vs. The Seminoles... The Huskies and Seminoles have only faced once on the diamond, the 1957 College World Series. The Huskies notched their first ever win in the CWS with a 5-3 win against Florida State.

The Gabe Van Emon Game... In a hostile environment in Norman, in a winner-take-all Game 7 of the Norman Regional. Gabe Van Emon pitched a gem to help the Huskies claim the Norman Regional title. The LHP, who has had his ups and downs this season, logged a career-high 7.1 shutout innings against the Sooners. It was Van Emon's first start since May 7th when he was knocked around in just one inning of work at Northeastern.

Van Emon got off to a good start in his first season in Storrs with a victory out of the bullpen against No. 23 Auburn with 5.1 shutout frames. The Lexington, Mass native followed it up with 7.0 innings of one-run ball at UCSB, a team that eventually hosted a regional.

Tammaro's Glove... The UConn shortstop has been superb defensively for the Huskies with just six errors on the season. That includes four of those being committed in the first six games of the season.

Coe is Nails... Garrett Coe continues to position himself as one of the all-time great UConn greats. The LHP enters the Regional with a 4.24 career ERA and is tied for 5th with Ted Garry (2004-07) with 73 career appearances.

Coe is has passed the 200 innings mark in his career with 203.2 and could move into the top-20 in program history in innings pitched this weekend. His 17 wins is currently tied for 11th all-time at UConn. He has also posted three saves during his Husky career.

Luke Nukes... In his two seasons in Storrs, Luke Broadhurst has launched 28 home runs. That alreaady ranks 8th all-time in program history with a Ben Huber (2022-23) and Joe DeRoche Duffin (2015-16). In 113 career games at UConn, Luke has collected 121 hits and driven in 103 runs.

Morton Milestones... Senior Korey Morton continues to climb the charts in terms of the all-time UConn greats. The outfielder currently is pursuing the 200-hit club. Only 20 Huskies have hit the mark and Morton is at 198 hits.

The Norwalk, Conn. native is 16th in UConn history with 180 games. He is 11th with 27 home runs and ranks 9th in program history with 57 stolen bases.

Hyde's Moment.. Former walk-on, team captain and catcher Ryan Hyde stepped up big time in the Norman Regional. With his buddy and starting catcher Matt Garbowski limited because of the flu, Hyde stepped in during three games in the Norman Regional.

The numbers don't stand out offensively during the regional but Hyde delivered a two-run single in the 6th inning against No. 12 Duke to take a 3-1 lead and eventual victory.

In the three games behind the plate, Hyde helped his pitching staff allow just one run in all three games he caught.

Power Conference Dubs... Since 2010, UConn is 94-82 against teams currently in "Power 5" Conferences. This season the Huskies are 8-10 with victories against Louisville, Auburn, Rutgers, UCLA, Duke and Oklahoma. Wins duirng the stretch include Clemson, Texas, Oregon State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Michigan and Virginia.

UConn had 15 games scheduled against Power 5 schools with Louisville (1-0) and Boston College (0-2) from the ACC, Cal (0-3) and UCLA (1-0) from the Pac-12, Rutgers (1-2) from the Big Ten, Auburn (1-2) from the SEC and Kansas State (1-0) and Cincinnati (canceled/weather) from the Big 12

UConn vs. Ranked Opponents.. The Huskies are 59-79-1 under 21st year head coach Jim Penders. UConn is currently 5-6 against Top-25 teams this year. Beating UC Irvine, losing a series at No. 23 Auburn and getting swept at Santa Barbara. The six-straight ranked regular season games is the most (on record) for the Huskies since playing five-straight ranked games in 2020. UConn played six-straight ranked games in the 2022 NCAA Tournament against No. 15 Maryland in the Regionals and No. 2 Stanford in the Super Regionals. This weekend the Huskies defeated No. 12 Duke in the opening game of the Norman Regional and took two-of-three from No. 9 Oklahoma to win the Regional Title.