Another weekend in the baseball season has come and gone, except this weekend was more of a flashback than anything.
UCLA exploited all of the Utes’ weaknesses this past weekend in California, holding Utah to few hits and making all the right plays to sweep the series. It came as a bit of a hiccup after such a strong showing in the month of March from the team.
Even though there weren’t a lot of bright spots on the offensive side, head coach Bill Kinneberg said he was impressed with junior AJ Young, but said that UCLA deserved all the credit for their victories.
“Their defense was outstanding,” he said. “We hit them at the wrong time. They did things to take away our offense, to take away our pitching.”
Carroll stays consistent through toughest challenge yet
Junior pitcher Dalton Carroll has arguably been the team’s most consistent pitcher all season long. This past weekend, he proved again why his coach has all the confidence in the world in him.
Carroll is 3-3 on the year with impressive victories against Nicholls State University, a complete game against Kansas and a conference win over Arizona.
“He’s been really good since bout to third inning in Phoenix,” Kinneberg said. “It’s basic pitching, strike one down in the zone, throwing strikes with a couple of different pitches, fastball with command … He pitched great on Saturday, that was an outstanding effort.”
Kinnebeg also spoke of Carroll’s competitiveness as why he has been so successful of late.
Carroll had the closest game out of all his teammates. He kept the Bruins in check for most of the time he was on the mound and, even though he earned the loss, held UCLA to just three runs after they scored 14 the previous game and 11 the day after.
BYU comes to town
Playing a mid-week game is hard enough, but doing it against your in-state rivals might be a reason to play all-out.
Kinneberg says that he wants to see more consistency from his players in their matchup with the Cougars. It will be the second home game of the season for the Utes after they beat UVU last week during spring break 9-3.
BYU is 11-12 on the season and has just come off a series win over Gonzaga University as they took two of the three games.
“Again we are just looking for consistency,” Kinneberg said. “Making sure our pitchers are healthy and ready to go. It’s a chance to get better again.”
The game will begin at 7 p.m. at Smith’s Ballpark.
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