[MiniBlueHawkCard]

Pitching Notes. 

UConn has announced that they will be flipping their #1 and #2 starters for this weekend. 
This is because their #1 guy (Austin Peterson) pitched both in the Friday game (started, 109 pitches) and the Monday game (bullpen, 50 pitches). 
Their #2 guy (Pat Gallagher) pitched the Saturday game so will be on the typical one week between starts. 

Alex Williams also pitched the Saturday game for us, so no doubt he will be the game 1 starter. 

The strength of the UConn team is their starting pitching (at least UConn fans clearly think so). 
They have a fairly traditionally structured staff with clear #1, #2, and #3 starters and a designated closer.
#1 starter - Austin Peterson, 11-2, ERA 3.30, WHIP 1.06 (my calculation, UConn doesn't provide it)
#2 starter - Pat Gallagher, 10-3, ERA 3.17, WHIP 1.21 
#3 starter - Enzo Stefannoni, 6-1, ERA 3.20, WHIP 1.11
Closer - Justin Willis, 15 Saves, ERA 4.68, WHIP 1.24

[For comparison, here are similar numbers for Stanford, except we don't have such clear roles. And the competition is different.]
Alex Williams, 8-2, ERA 2.35, WHIP 0.99
Quinn Matthews, 9-1, 7 Saves, ERA 2.69, WHIP 1.22
Joey Dixon, 6-3, ERA 3.53, WHIP 1.30
Drew Dowd, 6-0, ERA 5.00, WHIP 1.48
Ty Uber, 4-1, ERA 4.88, WHIP 1.35


I haven't found a lot of evaluations of the UConn pitchers. The following is what I could find. I hope MiniBlueHawk will chime in with better info. 
Gallagher and Peterson were both Big East all conference pitchers, but not pitcher of the year. 
I have seen slightly higher draft projections for Gallagher than Peterson, though none of these pitchers seem to be particularly highly rated for the MLB draft. (Maybe - MiniBlueHawk thinks Peterson will be a day two pick (rounds 3-10), which isn't bad)
Peterson gets a lot of strike outs (12/nine innings). That's fewer than Cooper Hjerpe at Oregon State but more than anyone else in the Pac 12. I don't really know his pitch repertoire, but did read that his slider had been his go to pitch, felt he lost it a bit in previous years, but it came back this year. 
I did find an MLB draft writeup for Gallagher. It describes him somewhat similarly to how I would describe Alex Williams. Doesn't have an overwhelming fastball (usually high 80s), or a killer breaking ball, but has four pitches and has good control of position and velocity. 
Stefanoni is their Ivy League grad transfer (ours is Joe Lomuscio). Doesn't strike out a lot of guys, doesn't walk a lot of guys (but has hbp quite a few), and keeps opponents from scoring much. 
They have a lot of guys in their pen with decent numbers.

Peterson is the one I was referring to as the ace and second day draft guy (my former classmate is a scout and that's the evaluation he provided). UConn, much like Stanford, has had a lot of successful series start with a long, quality, outing from their ace. This has allowed Coach Penders to have a relatively quick trigger going to a deep bullpen if Gallagher or Enzo struggle. 

Gallagher has a tendency to make things interesting for himself early in an outing. If and when he finds his rythm he can breeze through the middle innings. Last year Gallagher had a solid regular season and a disappointing outing in the Notre Dame regional (it turns out he was tipping his pitches). Last weekend he had a really solid outing against Maryland to stay in the winners bracket.

Enzo is a crafty/junk ball thrower that had a very impressive start to the year. Lately, he has rarely been given the opportunity to get through the lineup more than twice. His not traditional approach usually allows him to get through the lineup once without much of an issue. I except the bottom of the Stanford lineup to give him some problems (the same portion that handled Texas State's offspeed , offerings well). I expect if Enzo gets into trouble early freshman Ian Cooke will be called upon. Cooke is the real deal and more than just an inning eater. Enzo also pitched in a regional when he was Harvard. 

The UConn bullpen has plenty of options. With no 3 batter minimum Coach Penders often uses guys for just one batter.

[MiniBlueHawkCard]

Pitching Notes. 

UConn has announced that they will be flipping their #1 and #2 starters for this weekend. 
This is because their #1 guy (Austin Peterson) pitched both in the Friday game (started, 109 pitches) and the Monday game (bullpen, 50 pitches). 
Their #2 guy (Pat Gallagher) pitched the Saturday game so will be on the typical one week between starts. 

Alex Williams also pitched the Saturday game for us, so no doubt he will be the game 1 starter. 

The strength of the UConn team is their starting pitching (at least UConn fans clearly think so). 
They have a fairly traditionally structured staff with clear #1, #2, and #3 starters and a designated closer.
#1 starter - Austin Peterson, 11-2, ERA 3.30, WHIP 1.06 (my calculation, UConn doesn't provide it)
#2 starter - Pat Gallagher, 10-3, ERA 3.17, WHIP 1.21 
#3 starter - Enzo Stefannoni, 6-1, ERA 3.20, WHIP 1.11
Closer - Justin Willis, 15 Saves, ERA 4.68, WHIP 1.24

[For comparison, here are similar numbers for Stanford, except we don't have such clear roles. And the competition is different.]
Alex Williams, 8-2, ERA 2.35, WHIP 0.99
Quinn Matthews, 9-1, 7 Saves, ERA 2.69, WHIP 1.22
Joey Dixon, 6-3, ERA 3.53, WHIP 1.30
Drew Dowd, 6-0, ERA 5.00, WHIP 1.48
Ty Uber, 4-1, ERA 4.88, WHIP 1.35


I haven't found a lot of evaluations of the UConn pitchers. The following is what I could find. I hope MiniBlueHawk will chime in with better info. 
Gallagher and Peterson were both Big East all conference pitchers, but not pitcher of the year. 
I have seen slightly higher draft projections for Gallagher than Peterson, though none of these pitchers seem to be particularly highly rated for the MLB draft. (Maybe - MiniBlueHawk thinks Peterson will be a day two pick (rounds 3-10), which isn't bad)
Peterson gets a lot of strike outs (12/nine innings). That's fewer than Cooper Hjerpe at Oregon State but more than anyone else in the Pac 12. I don't really know his pitch repertoire, but did read that his slider had been his go to pitch, felt he lost it a bit in previous years, but it came back this year. 
I did find an MLB draft writeup for Gallagher. It describes him somewhat similarly to how I would describe Alex Williams. Doesn't have an overwhelming fastball (usually high 80s), or a killer breaking ball, but has four pitches and has good control of position and velocity. 
Stefanoni is their Ivy League grad transfer (ours is Joe Lomuscio). Doesn't strike out a lot of guys, doesn't walk a lot of guys (but has hbp quite a few), and keeps opponents from scoring much. 
They have a lot of guys in their pen with decent numbers.

Peterson is the one I was referring to as the ace and second day draft guy (my former classmate is a scout and that's the evaluation he provided). UConn, much like Stanford, has had a lot of successful series start with a long, quality, outing from their ace. This has allowed Coach Penders to have a relatively quick trigger going to a deep bullpen if Gallagher or Enzo struggle. 

Gallagher has a tendency to make things interesting for himself early in an outing. If and when he finds his rythm he can breeze through the middle innings. Last year Gallagher had a solid regular season and a disappointing outing in the Notre Dame regional (it turns out he was tipping his pitches). Last weekend he had a really solid outing against Maryland to stay in the winners bracket.

Enzo is a crafty/junk ball thrower that had a very impressive start to the year. Lately, he has rarely been given the opportunity to get through the lineup more than twice. His not traditional approach usually allows him to get through the lineup once without much of an issue. I except the bottom of the Stanford lineup to give him some problems (the same portion that handled Texas State's offspeed , offerings well). I expect if Enzo gets into trouble early freshman Ian Cooke will be called upon. Cooke is the real deal and more than just an inning eater. Enzo also pitched in a regional when he was Harvard. 

The UConn bullpen has plenty of options. With no 3 batter minimum Coach Penders often uses guys for just one batter.