Husky HQ

Husky HQ

Your Home for UConn Athletics: FOX Sports 97-9Full Bio

 

UConn Legend - Baseball's Mike Nemeth - 2010

The Star Studded names from the Baseball Huskies in 2009, 10 & 11 who are now playing in the Majors is impressive. Springer, Barnes, Ahmed, Oberg...Am I forgetting anyone ?? Mike Olt had a look too. One who didn't was Mike Nemeth. But the Huskies don't have the success they had in 2010 & 11 without him at first base..

The New Jersey Native was a 3x All Area and West Jersey selection. A two time Team MVP at Warren Hills HS where he holds the hits record for a season and career while hitting .420 in High School......Next stop, Storrs, CT and a great run at UConn where he started all but two games played wearing the Hook C.

The freshman made an immediate impact with a solid .321 average , 60 hits and 29 rbi in a season the Huskies went 27-28 and ended with a three game sweep at Pittsburgh. But the young guns were starting to turn heads and it wasn't just Nemeth. 2009 progress, a winning season, both overall and in conference. That included a 14-3 end to the regular season to get them the final spot in the Big East Tournament. Nemeth again solid with a .346 average, 80 hits, 47 rbi, 22 doubles and a .537 slugging percentage that earned him All Conference Honors.

2010 would be a special year for UConn Baseball and for Nemeth...12-5 thru March which included three wins over Big 10 Teams, 3 out of 4 at Cal-Northridge and a win at USC where scouts were starting to notice as George Springer's Dad, who was on the trip out west, told Coach Jim Penders. And whoever thought salvaging one win at #7 Louisville would start an amazing 22 game win streak for the Huskies. One month without a loss, including a three game sweep of rival Rutgers in Storrs, vaulted the Huskies right up the standings and rankings...20-6 in Conference Play and the #2 seed where they came out of the losers bracket to run to the title game, losing to St. John's 3-0...But the NCAA gave the Northeast a rare Regional, in Norwich as UConn would be two seed in a regional that featured Florida St, Oregon and Central CT. Big Crowds at Dodd Stadium watched the Huskies lose twice to Oregon sandwiched between a win over CCSU capped the Huskies school record 48 win season. Nemeth a big part of it with a .386 average, 15 homers, 84 rbi..98 hits 165 total bases, 63 runs scored, a .650 slugging percentage and .470 on base percentage. 2nd Team All Big East, 1st Team All New England and ABCA Northeast Region...and a ABCA/NCAA Third Team All American...But he wasn't quite done..neither were the Huskies.

2011 didn't start fast, hanging around .500 into Big East play, but after taking 2 of 3 against Pitt, the Huskies would go 31-6 in the next 37 to right the ship. But again, the Big East Tournament was disappointing for UConn, going 2-2...Still a two seed awaited the Huskies at the Clemson Regional...Where after getting thumped by Coastal Carolina in the opening game, roared back with a vengeance. Getting revenge on Coastal before a walkoff win over Clemson to force a winner take all game. Where the loosy, goosy Huskies routed the host Tigers 14-1 to advance to their first Super Regional with the UConn First Baseman making the All Regional Team as he was 11/23 at the plate. But defending Champion South Carolina was too much to handle to advance to Omaha where they'd defend their title. With some "ping" taken off the bats in 2011, the pop wasn't quite there, but Nemeth wasn't really effected. 93 hits, a .359 average, .459 slugging % that included a 10 game hit streak..51 runs and 49 driven in. Where it earned Mike All Big East Honors and 2nd Team All New Egland and Northeast Honors.....

Mike Nemeth's UConn Career numbers among the best....241 games (2nd), 172 runs (3rd), 481 in total bases (1st), 134 walks (T2), 331 hits (1st) 24 HR (10th), 931 AB (1st), 70 doubles (1st) and 211 rbi (1st). Remember the names mentioned at the start of the article. And I didn't even mention the record putout numbers at first base with 2,256 (1st)....Mike Nemeth was a late round pick of the Brewers in 2011, but his career in the Minors was very short.

He went into Coaching for a short time at the University of Hartford with Justin Blood before heading into the business world. Where he's currently employed by RGP in Parsippany, NJ as a Manager of it's Strategic Client Program.

A steady rock in the Huskies lineup during the winningest period in program history for Jim Pender's Crew....An All American and a UConn Legend....


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content