University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
University of Houston
BSB Opens American Conference Champ vs. Houston
5/20/2019 9:53:00 PM | Baseball
CLEARWATER, Fla. - The No. 4 seeded UConn baseball team kicks off The American Conference Championship on Tuesday, May 21 at 9 a.m. against No. 5 seeded Houston at Spectrum Field, the spring training home of the Philadelphia Phillies. The game will be streamed on The American Digital Network and can be heard on 97.9 ESPN Hartford and iHeartradio.com with Mike Crispino on the call or on 91.7 FM WHUS with Chris Jones.
American Conference Tourney... UConn is 12-9 all-time in the American Athletic Conference Championship. The Huskies won their first American Conference Championship with a tournament championship in 2016.
Last year, the Huskies reached the American Athletic Conference Championship game but lost to the ECU Pirates. The game not only determined the tournament champ but ECU hosted an NCAA Regional while the Huskies settled as a No. 2 seed in the Conway Regional.
The Huskies played both ECU (0-1) and Wichita State (1-0) in the 2018 American Conference Championship and last played Houston in the tournament in 2018 (0-2).
Huskies in Clearwater... Since the Big East Tournament moved to Clearwater, Fla in 2009 the Huskies have played in every conference tournament (Big East/American) and had
success. UConn won the 2013 Big East Tournament Championship and the 2016 American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship. The Huskies overall record is 27-16 and the team has reached the semifinal round on Saturday in 9 of the last 10 tournaments. The only tournament the Huskies did not reach the semi's was during the round-robin format year in 2014 when there was no semifinal round.
Gearing Up For Go Time!#HookC // #RollSkies pic.twitter.com/uA265NCC86
— UConn Baseball (@UConnBSB) May 21, 2019
Prime Time Prato... Shortstop Anthony Prato loves to hit at Spectrum Field in Clearwater. The junior has been named to the All-Tournament team both seasons after going 10-19 (.526) with four runs, seven RBIs and three extra base hits during his freshmen campaign. Last year, he went 12-18 (.667), falling one hit shy of the tournament record, set by former UConn SS Bryan Daniello (13 hits) in 2016.Â
Battle Tested Huskies Enter Postseason... The No.4 seeded Huskies enter the postseason having played its most brutal regular season in program history. UConn currently holds the 32nd strength of schedule in the country which would be a program record for the team. During this year's campaign, the Huskies won a series against ACC champion, No. 4 Louisville and Sun Belt champion Texas State. UConn knocked off No. 25 Illinois and played Big Ten Champion Indiana and Southland Champion Sam Houston State.
Then proceeded to play in the No. 5 RPI conference and win road series at Houston, UCF and Tulane. UConn is currently No. 28 in Monday's RPI rankings and holds a No. 12 non-conference RPI.Â
All-Conference 'Skies...The American Athletic Conference announced its All-Conference teams and major award winners on Monday afternoon ahead of The American Conference Championship. The Huskies secured six All-Conference performers with three on the first team and three landing on the second team.
Juniors Mason Feole (SP), Anthony Prato (SS) and Jake Wallace (RP) all captured All-Conference first team honors with Wallace being a unanimous choice by the American Conference coaches. Christian Fedko (DH), Mike Woodworth (2B) and John Toppa (OF) earned second team status.
