DESPERATE FOR A WIN

After having to wait it out an extra day because of the rain, the baseball team should finally get a chance to erase the memories of last weekend today when they take on Central Connecticut today at 3 p.m. at J.O. Christian Field.

UConn (21-25) comes into the game with a 2-8 record over their last ten games and while a lot hasn't gone their way in recent weeks, one thing head coach Jim Penders can't fault the team for is its energy level including the sweep at the hands of West Virginia last weekend.

"Honestly, I didn't think our energy was that bad," Penders said. "We played with a lot of energy this weekend, we just got beat. That was the bottom line. I can't fault our energy level or effort level this weekend. It was just we got beat by a better team.

Much like last week's non-conference game, Penders hopes that the Huskies can get into a good rhythm today with another tough Big East series coming this weekend, when Notre Dame, the team tied atop the Big East standings visits Storrs.

CCSU (16-18) comes in with a .500 record over their past 10 games, but has the second-best conference record in the Northeast Conference at 10-6.

"They're always in contention in their conference and so they've always got a winning swagger and attitude," Penders said. "And I would expect them to come in here with a lot of confidence trying to knock us off. We're going to have to play our best to come out with a 'W.'"

Tuesday's scheduled game against Vermont was cancelled around 10 a.m. yesterday due to inclement weather forecasts for much of the afternoon. Since the Catamounts have a long distance to travel to Storrs, the game had to be called off earlier than usual.

"We'd like to play, but unfortunately they come from such a distance that they had to make a decision than we normally like to," Penders said. "Hopefully it won't disrupt anything, I mean it's not like we've got a real great streak going on right now."

While Penders would have preferred being able to play on Tuesday, he was able to hold an extra practice on Tuesday after the team had an off-day Monday.

"What it does allow us to do is have a practice and hopefully straighten some guys out and get them feeling better," Penders said.

Trent DeLazzer was scheduled for the start Tuesday and Penders didn't rule out the possibility of him going Wednesday, though he had not decided on Wednesday's starter for certain in light of the cancellation.

The last time the Huskies lost to CCSU was in 2004, Penders' first season as head coach. Since that 10-4 loss, the Huskies have beaten the Blue Devils 6-2, 14-13 and most recently 13-4. The Huskies are 19-7 all-time against the Blue Devils.

"They're really well coached and they always play us real hard," Penders said. "I don't know a lot about them [this year], we were focusing on Vermont. So I we haven't really looked an awful lot about them yet."

CCSU boasts a solid bullpen with lefties Donny White (1.54 ERA in eight appearances) and Chris Chagnon (3.30 ERA in eight appearances out of the bullpen) getting the job done for the Blue Devils.

While they are not a power-hitting team, the Blue Devils can hit for contact well with five regular starters hitting above .300. Third baseman Sean Allaire is hitting .310 on the year and is coming off a solid performance in the Blue Devils' series against Monmouth, going 5-for-9 with an RBI and two runs scored over three games.

The game against CCSU marks the start of the last homestand of the season for the Huskies, who wrap play up at J.O. Christian Field on Sunday in the series finale against Notre Dame.

Contact Mike Northup at Michael.Northup@UConn.edu.