Even though the Utah baseball team lost three of four games against Nicholls State over the weekend, the Ute pitchers walked away pleased with their performances.
Junior Bret Helton and Jayson Rose both finished with high strikeout counts in their starts, with Helton striking out nine on Friday and Rose collecting eight on Saturday. In the second game on Saturday, junior Dalton Carroll secured the Utes’ only victory of the weekend by pitching seven solid innings and striking out six.
YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: UTES END DROUGHT, STILL LOSE TO NICHOLLS STATE 3-1
“I think first of all the pitchers did a pretty good job this weekend, we had four really quality starts,” head coach Bill Kinneberg said. “The guy that impressed me the most this weekend was Hunter Rodriguez.”
Rodriguez relieved Carroll and pitched two shutout innings to secure his first save of the year. He struck out three batters and didn’t allow a hit during his time on the mound.
He also made an appearance in the team’s final game on Sunday and pitched a perfect inning.
Utes end losing streak, still lacking offense
Another weekend has gone by in which Utah lost multiple one-run ball games, and one reason is because the Utes aren’t cashing in on their chances at the plate.
“We’re not getting the end of the game results that we want,” Kinneberg said. “We are playing OK — we aren’t playing great at this point on the offensive side. We’re getting some opportunities that we aren’t capitalizing on at this point.”
The Utes snapped its eight game losing streak with a win on Saturday but Kinneberg said the team could have had more victories. Utah had chances to win all four games they played over the weekend, but couldn’t come through at the plate.
Weather might force Utes indoors
The Utes have had the luxury of being able to practice outside for the start of the season, but with the recent poor weather Utah might be forced inside to prepare for Kansas.
The team said that shouldn’t cause any problems.
“Not at all now,” Kinneberg said. “Now we’re in game mode. That’s not anything that we even need to consider or even worry about. We’ve got a great place to practice indoors.”
@ISmithAtTheU