Must-win games are used often more than not in sports, but this weekend is truly a must-win series for the Utes. A non-conference opponent stands in the way and with the recent stumbles in Pac-12 play, this weekend brings a heightened pressure of winning.
Utah’s opponent in Southeastern Louisiana is currently sitting with a record of 24-9, leading the Southlan conference with an 11-4 record.
Utah (10-19) has been experiencing a rough stretch as of late as it’s lost seven of its last 10 games. This came after the Utes were on a hot streak and won five of six games in early March.
“This weekend is huge for us,” sophomore Hunter Rodriguez said. “It’s a non-conference weekend and we can tend to get lackadaisical but that’s not this team. That’s not who we are. I feel like we’re going to come in and get this team. It’s going to be a huge momentum changer for us for the rest of the year.”
With his first weekend of starting the Friday night game done and over with, junior pitcher Nolan Stouder said that he’s confident heading into another weekend. Even though he hasn’t talked to head coach Bill Kinneberg too much about the aspect of starting on Friday night, Strouder hopes that what he is doing is helping the team in the long run.
“I think [Kinneberg] just wants me to continue doing what I’m doing,” Stouder said. “Try and get us deep into a ball game and keep it as close as possible and turn it over to the bullpen to take care of it and hopefully get a win for us.”
While Stouder will be taking the first game, fellow junior Dalton Carroll will be in his usual Saturday spot and following him will be freshman Jayson Rose, who has been on a hot streak lately and will look to carry that momentum through this weekend as he goes for his third win on the season.
Rose has combined for 17 strikeouts in his last two games against nationally ranked Pac-12 opponents Cal and Arizona State.
Confidence in the pitching staff has been key all year and Carroll said that his fellow pitchers are starting to come around as the season progresses.
“It’s just going back to what our pitching coach [Mike Crawford] told us, I think we are finally starting to believe that we belong in the [Pac-12] and now it’s just that we have to act like it,” Carroll said. “In those eighth and ninth innings, the staff needs to put it on ourselves to make those eighth and ninth innings boring and not where the crowd is up on their feet wondering if we are going to blow the lead or make it exciting…We just have to close those games out.”
Those close games that Carroll metnions have become a normal thing to expect for the team. Of the Utes’ 19 losses this season, 10 of them were decided by two runs or less.
Kinneberg has said all year that the players need to get that one key hit during the game that can change the momentum. The players have been steadily hitting better at the plate as of late, but the results that they are looking for aren’t coming.
The Utes will be looking for the same hitting results they saw against Cal when they had two games of 14-plus hits, including a 15 hit performance in game one.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. MT on Friday at Smith’s Ballpark.
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