Storrs — Imagine the poor soul from Tulsa suddenly thrust into competition for the nation's best marinara sauce.

This is called geographical disadvantage.

And now perhaps you understand better the travails of college baseball programs in the northeast, where geography determines the baseball unfriendly climate of the spring.

Is it coincidence, really, that UConn's palatial new baseball stadium is named after an Elliot (Doug) whose surname is the same as the poet (T.S. Eliot) who once wrote that "April is the cruelest month?"

It sure is for baseball here in this corner of the world. And yet the UConn Huskies endure and prevail, riding the rainbow to Logan Airport early Thursday morning for a flight to San Francisco and a date with Stanford in the Super Regionals Saturday night.

It's all so hard. Yet Jim Penders, the affable, utterly unpretentious coach, keeps writing better narratives with a work ethic befitting Avis (he keeps trying harder) and a success rate like Old Man River (he just keeps rolling along.)

Penders called the Huskies' trip back from an epic win at rowdy Maryland a "happy tired" the other night. UConn was back on its turfed lawn Wednesday for a workout before going west to what Penders called "hallowed ground," otherwise known as Stanford's revered Sunken Diamond.

And yet lost in UConn's geographical inconveniences is the reality that the Huskies are becoming a player in college baseball. A legitimate player. They may dress in more layers and shiver considerably more in early season than the kids at six-time national champion LSU, but then UConn is still playing here in 2022 and LSU isn't.

Once again: Elliot Ballpark is spectacular. But not even its beauty can match the weather issues the Huskies face much of the season, sustaining the idea that nature is a mother.

So how do Penders and staff keep finding kids that succeed despite the meteorological hinderances?

"I'd say overall (recruiting) is getting easier, but it's just a different landscape," he said Wednesday. "You have to be able to adjust. We were just talking about that on the bus ride home. We would have a freshman class of 12 to 13 or 14 guys some years and we're not doing that anymore. It better be more like six because you better be in the transfer portal. You better be bringing men in and not boys if you want to continue to stay at this level."

Translation: Men not only have more strength and experience, but maturity as well. There are layers to all that.

"Even with shiny new toys now, we have to guard against complacency or the entitlement factor," Penders said. "You know, if a young man is attracted to a chair back or a wooden locker (generally considered locker room amenities), that's not a guy for us. But if he's attracted to the fact that he can hit 24/7 in our batting/pitching facility, if he's attracted to the fact that he can lift in that facility whenever he wants, then that's a guy for us. But if he likes the bells and whistles first, it's not a guy for us. So, we have to do even more due diligence than we used to."

A few years ago, Penders spoke at a roast for the great Roger Bidwell, who sent many players to UConn during his 30-plus years and more than 1,000 wins at Avery Point. Turns out Penders and Bidwell have the same DNA: It's about the work, not the trumpets.

"It's like a guy choosing Avery Point when coach Bidwell was there in his leaky office having buckets around his desk to catch the drops," Penders said. "If a kid signs up for that, he's serious about getting better. And we need to keep finding that DNA and those kids who do a little bit extra due diligence. We want to make sure that we don't get the prima donna. We don't get the kid with any sense of entitlement."

The toughness oozes, enough for the Huskies to conquer Maryland in the elimination game Monday night. Picture it: Maryland leadoff hitter (and Danbury native) Luke Shliger began the game with a home run, sending "The Bob" as the Terps call it their home stadium, into delirium. UConn's response: a six-run bottom of the first.

So maybe Stanford is the better team this weekend. But the moment isn't likely to overwhelm the Huskies. Maybe that's what happens when the coldest winter you've ever spent is a spring playing baseball in Storrs. Everything else is ... details.

"I mean, hey, we're going to Sunken Diamond. It's one of the most iconic ballparks in college baseball. Hallowed ground," Penders said. "But I think our guys, they'll handle that. Stanford may have the better team. That's why we're going out there to find out. But the environment ... "

It's here Penders alluded to his dad, Jim, a longtime coach at East Catholic.

"My father has been coaching for 40 something years and coached in the state finals in basketball and can only compare (Maryland's atmosphere on Monday) to maybe like a South Catholic vs. East Catholic war on University of Hartford campus or Central Connecticut," Penders said. "There's 3,000 kids on top of you screaming their guts out. There were just a lot more expletives in College Park. You know, with the nuns watching East and South, there weren't as many expletives."

Penders advice to his team as it hits the hallowed ground?

"We talked about D-Day," he said. "When we're getting off the bus and how you have to run toward the guns. You're not going to survive on the beach if you're staying in the water. You've got to get to the beach, get to the cliff, get to the guns. You know. Run toward them."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro