It has been more than a month since the U baseball team started its season; however, it has not played one single game at home.
All of that will change this weekend, as the Utes face Southern Utah today in their home opener.
“It’s going to be nice to be home. We played very well during the 18 road games. We accomplished the goals we set and we think the games were helpful in preparing us for conference,” U coach Tim Esmay said.
Utah will attempt to lengthen its series winning streak to five series, as it has won at least two games from every team it has faced since dropping two out of three against Arizona Feb. 1 through 3.
This will not be the first time the Utes will have played the Thunderbirds this year. Two weeks ago, they defeated Southern Utah two out of three times.
Utah’s recent success stems in great part from the emergence of Cheyenne Rushton, who earned the Mountain West Pitcher of the Week award after he had pitched a 3-hit shutout against Southern Utah.
The only game the Utes lost against the Thunderbirds was when Sean Overholt was shelled in the opening innings and the Utes could not complete the comeback to sweep the series.
With Jason Wylie as the ace and Rushton coming into his own as the second starter, the Utes have needed a third starter to break out and help them pitch the weekend games.
Mitch Maio was primarily used in the bullpen for all of last year and the start of this season, but Esmay was tinkering with the idea of putting him in the starting rotation.
“I know every time I give Mitch the ball he will play well for me. It’s just a matter of if he can put in the innings it takes to become a starting pitcher,” Esmay said.
The plan came to fruition, as the Utes placed Maio as the starting pitcher last weekend against the Washington Huskies, and he did not disappoint.
Maio threw a complete game with 11 strikeouts, as the Utes won 8-3. With the amazing performance Maio delivered against Washington, he joined Rushton as another Ute who won the award for the Mountain West Pitcher of the Week.
With Maio as a part of the rotation, along with Nate Weese and Adam Castleton knocking the ball to pieces, the Utes are expecting to extend the series winning streak against Southern Utah.