UConn Baseball Snubbed From NCAA Tournament

Another edition of June madness was not to be for the UConn Huskies' baseball team.

UConn was denied its seventh consecutive NCAA tournament appearance when the bracket was revealed on Monday, leaving it stuck in Storrs for the first time since 2017. The snub came less than 48 hours after the Huskies dropped a 7-4 decision to Creighton in the Big East title game.

“We’ve been there six straight times and we know what an NCAA-caliber team looks like and we feel as if we have one,” longtime Huskies head coach Jim Penders said prior to the reveal, per Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant. “But it’s up to other folks. It’s just a frustrating feeling when you’re a competitor and you’re no longer competing, you’re wishing and hoping for another opportunity to compete. “

The Huskies (38-21, 17-4 Big East) were widely labeled as one of the first teams out after winning all but four of their final 29 games after a 13-17 start. Connecticut carried wins over top-five national seeds Vanderbilt and North Carolina, including a 6-2 triumph over the No. 1 Commodores in Los Angeles back on March 2.

The group was likely done in by the a relatively weak Big East, which sent only conference tournament champion Creighton to the proceedings, popping bubble bids from UConn and Xavier. Despite some strong non-conference wins, UConn went 3-6 against Creighton and Xavier, their competitors atop the Big East leaderboard. Home runs from Ryan Daniels, Beau Root, and Caleb Shpur were not enough to take down the Bluejays, who are back in the postseason for the first time since 2019.

Surprise champions likewise didn't help Connecticut's cause: Western Kentucky earned two bids for Conference USA (joining Dallas Baptist) while East Carolina did the same for the AAC (next to Texas-San Antonio).

Despite the snub, several Huskies took home major individual honors from the Big East prior to the conference tournament: second baseman Ryan Daniels took home the Player of the Year title and was joined on the conference's first-team by Shpur and shortstop Rob Rispoli.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags