Jim Penders just had a gut feeling. Before UConn baseball took on Harvard in an elimination game, the head coach decided to make a switch, inserting Thad Phillips into the starting lineup at third base in place of the recent incumbent David Langer.
“I just had a hunch, I told David Langer before the game, ‘Listen, you didn’t do anything wrong, you actually gave us really good at bats and you played good defense I just feel like it’s Thad’s day today,’” Penders said.
Phillips proved Penders’ instincts correct. In his first at-bat, Phillips smoked a ball into the deepest part of the ballpark that would’ve been a RBI triple if it didn’t hop over the fence for a ground-rule double.