UConn shortstop Bryan Padilla has solidified infield for super regional-bound Huskies

Bryan Padilla, who grew up on the baseball diamonds in Brooklyn, went to a baseball camp at La Salle Academy and found an older, taller kid taking ground balls at shortstop.

His name? James Bouknight.

“He once told me he was going to pick baseball over basketball, believe it or not,” Padilla said. “And he was good.”

Bouknight has said baseball is his first love and sometime touts, maybe joking, his untapped potential. But soon afterward Bouknight got serious about basketball and he ended up helping UConn return to the NCAA Tournament and get the program back in the business of developing NBA lottery picks.

Padilla, meanwhile, went to Poly Prep Country Day and met up with another future Husky, shortstop Anthony Prato, who eventually showed him around on his visit to Storrs. “I instantly fell in love with the place,” Padilla said.

So Padilla followed in Prato’s footsteps, came to UConn to make his mark in baseball and, as a redshirt freshman, has made a huge difference since entering the starting lineup. The Huskies have now made it to the NCAA super regional, where they will play at Stanford in a best-of-three series starting Saturday at 10:30 p.m.

This is what Padilla was meant to do. His father, Franclin Padilla, who played ball in the Dominican Republic, tells him the stories of how good he was in a country that loves its baseball. Growing up in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, Padillla said he frequently drove by Ebbets Field Apartments, which sit on the Dodgers’ ancestral ground.

“My parents said they put a bat in my hands when I was 3 years old,” Bryan said. “And they knew I was going to be a baseball player.”

His first year at UConn was a struggle. Padilla was suspended a game for going out for fast food on a road trip, and his teammates still tease him about it. Padilla didn’t get into any games last spring, but worked to get himself in better shape and during the fall and winter made his play for playing time.

After the first series of the season, UConn’s coaches were ready to try Padilla at short, though he was unsuspecting. The team returned from a road trip at 2 a.m., and coach Jim Penders saw body language that indicated it was time for a chat.

“I saw him put his stuff in his trunk,” Penders said. “And I kind of sensed his shoulders were slumping. He would get down on himself and I said, ‘Keep your chin up, I don’t know when it’s coming but I know you’re going to get an opportunity. Be ready for it this time. Don’t press, let your ability take over.”

The next weekend, Feb. 26, Padilla was in the starting lineup at shortstop against North Florida.

“I saw my name on the lineup card and my heart started racing,” Padilla said. “My first at bat, I was able to get the bat on it and hit a bloop single, then I was okay.”

Padilla got three hits in an 11-0 victory and has been a fixture at short ever since. Zach Bushling moved to third, where he is more natural, and David Smith at second base, and the Huskies infield has been solid ever since.

“His biggest problem a year ago was he wouldn’t make the routine play,” Penders said. “He’s made the outstanding play, going to his left or his right. And one error would become two, and it would snowball and he couldn’t get it back. Now he can separate that and treat an error as a fluke. He just seized the position.”

Padilla, 5 feet 10 and 180 pounds, has given UConn production out of the ninth spot, hitting .288 with eight homers and 36 RBI, with a number of timely blasts. He homered in a signature win at Southern California, another in the Big East Tournament clincher vs. Xavier, and another in the first NCAA Tournament game against Wake Forest. In the regional final he went 3-for-4 with a walk, three runs scored and two RBI, with a momentum-changing hit to extend UConn’s lead to 11-8 in the bottom of the eighth.

Rotation switch

Penders is going to flip his two top starters for the super regional. Pat Gallagher will pitch Game 1 Saturday and Austin Peterson, who pitched twice at Maryland, will get an extra day and go in the second game, which will be an elimination game for one of the teams.

“I’ve usually had my No.1 guy rested and didn’t have the guts to save him,” Penders said. “But now I have an excuse to do it.” ... Erik Stock, the transfer from Old Dominion, was known for his mid-90s fastball before coming to UConn. But he wanted to hit, and settled into left field and the middle of the order.

“I’d rather hit,” he said. “It’s more fun to hit a ball hard than strike out a batter. But I’m not leaving pitching behind. I tell the coaches all the time, I can come in if they need me. I’d just need one warmup ball.”

Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com