Storrs – The UConn baseball team will board a flight to Florida Thursday morning for a season-opening series.

Over the next month, the Huskies also will travel to California twice, back to Florida and to Hawaii for the first time, playing 18 of their first 19 games on the road.

They hope to pile up some valuable wins and valuable team bonding time during their ambitious start to the schedule.

“It looks glamorous on the computer screen,” coach Jim Penders said before practice Wednesday at Elliot Ballpark. “I hope we can endure it. That’s the key.

“We had some great guarantees and budget-wise it makes sense. It looks crazy, but Hawaii is giving us a really nice paycheck to go out there and play. It could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the guys to see that part of the world. So, we took it.”

UConn’s last road trip ended one game short of reaching the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.. The Huskies lost the deciding game in the best-of-three Super Regional series at Stanford in June.

The defeat made the Huskies even more determined to complete their journey this season.

“It made us even more hungry knowing that we got so close…,” said first baseman Ben Huber, whose potent bat drove in 66 runs and hit 11 home runs last season. “I feel like we have the pieces that we need to make that last step and get to Omaha.”

It all starts this weekend with UConn playing Ohio State in a four-game series beginning Friday night in Venice, Fla. Big East preseason pitcher of the year Ian Cooke, the only returning member of last season’s weekend starting rotation, will take the ball in the opener. Converted reliever Jake Sullivan and transfers Andrew Sears (Rhode Island College) and Stephen Quigley (Wheaton) will finish the series.

The Huskies return a strong core from a team that posted a program-record 50 victories, won the Big East regular season and tournament titles for the second straight season, and earned their first ever Super Regional victory.

They’re the preseason favorite to win the Big East.

Penders is counting on some newcomers, including infielder Luke Broadhurst who won a Division III national championship with Eastern Connecticut State University last season, to contribute right away.

“I like our team,” Penders said. “It’s an experienced group but not necessarily experienced in our uniforms, so that gives me a little bit of agita. Those guys haven’t done in our uniform against Division I competition. But I know they’re Division I players and could be Division I stars. But they’ve got to know it in their gut that they can get it done.”

UConn will find out a lot about its team playing difficult opponents on the road early on.

“You see what you’re made of really quick,” Huber said. “You really understand what you’re going to get from that team.”

The challenging schedule also will prepare the Huskies for the rest of the regular season and beyond.

“I’ve done it year in and year out,” Penders said. “We try to play the best early so that we can play the best late in Omaha. So far, the plan hasn’t quite worked to get to Omaha, but we’ve made a lot of progress along the way.”

UConn’s demanding travel schedule continues next week with a trip to Berkeley, Calif., to play Cal Poly and California twice over the weekend.

Next, the Huskies will play three games against Florida Atlantic (March 3-5) in Boca Raton.

Then, after hosting Hartford March 7 in the home opener at Elliot, they will take a long trip during the school vacation break, starting with four games against Hawaii in Honolulu (March 10-13) and then visiting San Diego State for four games (March 16-19) before finally returning home.

“It’s going to be the most plane rides I’ve been on,” Broadhurst said. “It will be a little bit of an adjustment for me but I’m super excited. I can’t wait until we get on the plane. It’s going to really feel real once we get on that plane.”

Penders is taking every step necessary to lessen the impact of the tough road trips and believes in a no excuses mentality.

“We’ve done something similar in the past, but we haven’t done something quite this arduous…,” Penders said. “Early on, it’s going to be a lot and a lot of air miles. We’ve taken steps to ensure the guys will have recovery time when we get out to Hawaii. We’re bringing our strength and conditioning coach to make sure that their nutrition is up to snuff.

“I think it’s going to be harder on the coaches than it is on the players. These guys are 18 to 23 years old. They should be able to bounce back. But an 11-hour flight is an 11-hour flight, so it is what it is. If we allow it to be mentally taxing, it’s going to be that much worse.

“It might be far away, but it’s another ball game. They’re not going to feel sorry for us when we get off the plane. We’ve got to go out and beat them.”

g.keefe@theday.com