Storrs — Expectations have evolved over the years for the UConn baseball program.

No longer is qualifying for the NCAA tournament enough.

The bar is higher than that.

So, the Huskies (46-13) won't be satisfied with just winning their upcoming regional in College Park, Md. They will settle for nothing less than earning a trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

UConn's quest starts at 1 p.m. Friday when against second-seeded Wake Forest (40-17-1) in the first round at Bob Turtle Smith Stadium. The Huskies are the No. 3 seed.

Coach Jim Penders reminded his team of what's at stake on the return trip home from Ohio where the Huskies won the Big East tournament title Sunday for the second straight year and automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

"It's going to be disappointing if we don't get to Omaha and have a chance to win a national championship," said Penders, who gathered in a Burton Family Football Complex meeting room with his team to watch the selection show on Monday. "Our guys know that. ... I made sure after we got off the bus last night."

Host Maryland (45-12), the No. 15 seed overall in the field, and Long Island University (37-19) are also in the four-team, double-elimination regional.

The Huskies like their draw.

"Maryland is just about as good of a selection that we could have had," senior Christian Fedko said. "Going back through my years here, we've had a very good record against the Big Ten, so that's good. But all the focus right now has got to be on Wake Forest. I know a couple friends at Wake Forest and I know they have a good program down there."

The Huskies are making their fourth straight trip to the tournament and eighth since 2010.

After UConn learned about its regional destination, Penders immediately texted his father, Jim.

His father had a scary experience playing for UConn in College Park that impacted the Penders family.

"My father almost died on that field," Penders said. "In 1963, he got hit in the head. He got the last rites at Prince George's County Hospital. He had to learn to talk and read all over again. He came back two years later to be the captain of the UConn baseball team with his brother (Tom).

"His brother wound up here (at UConn) because of that incident, because he committed to Duquesne to play basketball and his mom said, 'No, you're going to go to UConn to take care of your brother because he's going to need help just surviving.'

"... So, he took care of him. And they got to play together on that 1965 College World Series team. So, the second I saw it come up, I texted the old man and said, "You better be coming. You've got to come back, you don't remember much the last time you were there.' I'm excited to get back for personal reasons.

"Excited also to play Wake Forest, a really quality opponent."

The Huskies enter the NCAA tournament playing terrific baseball.

They swept their way to the Big East championship, winning three games by a combined 18-3 margin. They beat Xavier 7-2 in the final.

"I feel like we're just hitting our stride right now," Fedko said. "I think the last three games we played in the Big East were some of our best games we played all year. Our pitching staff, defense and hitting are all coming together at the right time to make a run at this thing.

"We all know just getting there isn't enough. We want to win it."

But they aren't overlooking anybody in the regional field.

"The other three teams are all great teams," said redshirt sophomore Kevin Ferrer, a Stonington graduate. "Wake Forest is a team that probably should have hosted. It's going to be competitive. I think we have a great group of guys and we're going to be able to do this, keep going and play into June."

g.keefe@theday.com