Coach Penders has had a lot to smile about in his 5-2 start.

Today was a historic day for the Huskies athletic department. What’s that?… Oh, no, no, no, not for that boring girls basketball win-streak thingee either. With 71 games in a row? Or as I like to say, 71 straight dunk-free basketball games… no thank you.

Nope, today was much more important than that for Connecticut athletics. It was the baseball teams’ chance to get a four-game sweep at Cal State Northridge.

I also got the chance to talk to UConn head coach Jim Penders after his Huskies came up just short in getting that sweep. But it should be noted that they showed signs of life for a much, much, much better season in 2010.

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WHAT I SAW AT MATADOR FIELD TODAY
CSUN avoided the sweep from the visiting Connecticut Huskies with a white-knuckle 5-3 win. With the result, UConn drops to 5-2 on the young season and the Matadors improved to 5-5, as they look to turn their season into a weakened Big West success.

UConn – 001 010 100 – 3 10 1
CSUN – 000 004 100 – 5 8 1

WP: Justen Gorski (2-0)
LP: Pat Butler (0-1)
Save: Jimmy Joicoeur (1)

CSUN saves specialist Jimmy Jolicoeur gets a handshake from catcher hero Marty Bowen after escaping a 9th inning jam for the win.

The Matadors needed this one, and they got it. A four-run 6th inning and some timely relief work on the mound were the big keys in avoiding the four-game sweep at the hands of the Huskies from the Northeast.

Three straight infield singles, two via bunts, kick-started the key bottom of the 6th, and Marty Bowen’s 2-RBI single sealed the fate of the Huskies, putting Northridge up 3-2, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Bowen also came back in the 7th to put a cement headstone on the UConn sweeping hopes with another single that scored an insurance run for the Mats.

But UConn wouldn’t go quietly… no, not one iota. The Huskies ended up loading the bases in the 9th with just one out. But CSUN ace bullpenner Jimmy Jolicoeur came on to get a pair of strikeouts from UConn’s most dangerous hitters, George Springer and Mike Olt. Nice work.

Getting George Springer to strike out looking with the bases loaded in the 9th was huge.

Still, with a 3-1 weekend in the valley, this was a solid indicator that the Huskies may be ready to make a huge “you better fuggin’ watch out!” season in Big East play. And who knows, maybe even in NCAA tournament play too.

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MY Q&A WITH COACH PENDERS.
After the game, I was able to catch up with the Connecticut head honcho and talk turkey about his teams’ 5-2 mark and his hopes of avoiding last season’s squalid 7-11 start. That led to the team finishing with a 36-24 mark and an RPI of 72. I.e., the Huskies sat at home in June, instead of playing in the biggest ball.

Here’s how things went down…

Me:
Hey coach, I’m Eric Sorenson from College Baseball Today.

Coach Penders:
Yeah, I recognize you from the website. I thought I’d see you with stitches in your head though.

Me:
I know, I got them fixed. This IS a plastic surgery town.

Coach Penders:
(Laughs) Well that’s good.

Me:
For a while there I thought I might catch you after a sweep.

Coach Penders:
Yeah, well, we couldn’t finish today.

Me:
Just a couple questions before you guys take off. Talk a little bit about your teams’ start this year as opposed to last year when you had some early struggles. What’s been the difference?

Coach Penders:
Well we made a couple of adjustments in how we prepared for the season. We really laid off a lot on the conditioning. I made a deal with our guys and they came back in pre-season already in shape after the holiday break. And I really think a lot of our slow starts had more to do with what WE were doing as a coaching staff.

Me:
You mean over the last few years?

Coach Penders:
Yeah. We changed some things up conditioning-wise and their legs have looked fresher and have had a lot more energy.

And also, I’m really pleased with our swagger. The dugout has got a lot of energy – as I’m sure you heard today – and I like our attitude. I mean, you have a guy like (Friday ace) Elliot Glynn who was the No. 1 pitcher for Wilson High School in Long Beach (California), who was the No. 1-ranked high school team in the country, he’s not afraid of anybody. You know, maybe he SHOULD be afraid – he doesn’t have a 95-mile per hour fastball or anything – but he’s pitched in Dodger Stadium for the sectionals and he’s been a Cape Cod League All Star, he’s our Friday night starter. And he has a lot of confidence and that really sets the tone for our ball club.

Me:
I was going to ask you about the depth of your team, especially pitching-wise. How do you assess that part of the team?

Coach Penders:
Going into the beginning of the year we were very concerned about the staff and the depth of the staff. But so far the numbers are shaking out pretty well. So far, so good. We’ve done a pretty good job of throwing strikes. For the most part I’ve been happy with our pitchers.

Me:
Do you expect there to be a lot of younger guys at the back end of the bullpen and mid-week starts?

Coach Penders:
Yeah, that’s probably so. You know, today, we had a freshman, Pat Butler, get the start and he may have battled a little case of nerves for a few innings as a freshman in his first outing.

Coach Jim Penders says that SS Nick Ahmed could have the best arm on the team, having hit a consistent 90-to-93 mph on the radars.

Me:
I thought he did pretty well up until that 6th inning.

Coach Penders:
Yeah, he settled in okay. He’s really got a good arm. I think he should take a lot of positives out of that start. And you know, the guy that might throw the best of any of them is our shortstop, Nick Ahmed. He can run it up there around 92 to 94, and we had him getting loose between innings late in the game because he might’ve had to come in and close it out, especially if we could’ve gotten another run or two and sent this game into extra innings.

Me:
Now, you guys came pretty close last year to making the NCAA tournament, or at least to getting into consideration with an RPI in the low 70s. Have you adjusted anything, schedule-wise or maybe what you were saying about conditioning, laying off the guys a little bit so you can make a better late season push?

Coach Penders:
Ehhh, I don’t know if we can do anything RPI-wise up there in the Northeast. I mean, when Rhode Island doesn’t get into the tournament last year… I don’t know what else you have to do. They beat Oklahoma State, they beat Miami. They beat all these good teams and Jimmy Foster (the URI head coach) and his guys deserved to be in the regionals last year.

Me:
Yeah, that was sad… don’t get me started.

Coach Penders:
So I don’t really focus on scheduling a whole lot. We tried that for a while, trying to get the biggest RPI we could get. But still, I think we’re playing the toughest schedule in the history of the program this year. We feel as if we can compete with anybody.

Me:
Speaking of, tell me what you think about the Big East. You guys had a great opening weekend over the Big 10 and you also have powerful teams like Louisville, St. John’s and even Villanova is something like 9-2 right now… tell me your thoughts on the conference.

Coach Penders:
We’ve always felt like we’ve been underrated for a long time. You know, my buddy Paul Mainieri (the LSU coach) is always preaching about how underrated we are and that’s just the nature of the beast.

The conference is really strong – and I mean top-to-bottom. I mean you brought up Villanova and they’re a very good offensive club, they can swing the bats and they’ve got like five guys hitting .350 or better.

Me:
I like that Matt Szczur guy, was the MVP of the national championship football team.

Coach Penders:
Oh yeah, he’s a very good player. And then Louisville’s going to be good. And we open the conference schedule with them out there and then go to West Virginia, and they’ve got some guys that can hit like crazy. I know South Florida has hit some bumps early, but they’ve played a really tough schedule.

Me:
So I’m assuming you mean this will be a two-or-three bid league this season?

Coach Penders:
(giving me that “well DUH!” look on his face). I sure hope so, yes. The year we won 39 games – in 2006 – we didn’t get in either. And St. John’s had 40 wins that year and us two were the only schools with 39 or more wins that didn’t get into the NCAA tournament.

All we can do for ourselves is keep winning, and that’s what I’ve told our guys. You know, if we win our next four games against USC, Tennessee, Marshall and Ohio State, I think that’s a good way to set the tone for the remainder of the season.