It seemed as if the Utes had solved their starting pitching problems this year, as they headed into the conference season with a solid three-man rotation of Jason Wylie, Cheyenne Rushton and Mitch Maio.
Wylie was pitching very well at the beginning of the season, but has tailed off as of late, and his conference-opening start was less than stellar.
In order to have a successful team, even with average starts by the primary pitchers, a team needs middle relief, and the Utes haven’t got much help in that department either.
Although the hitting has come around to the point where the Utes are practically knocking the cover off the ball, the pitching just went down the tubes against New Mexico.
Wylie was touched up for 6 runs in 3 innings of work, and the Utes were not able to come back from the large deficit.
Maio and Rushton had pitched very well in their previous starts, and Maio was looking to win his second start of the season.
Rushton came into the second game of the series with a perfect record of 3-0, and his team gave him plenty of run support, as it scored 11 runs on 18 hits.
However, he could not get the job done on the mound, as the Lobos scored 11 runs in his 3.2 innings of work.
Maio was an experimental starter. He had been the team’s best reliever, but when U coach Tim Esmay decided to start him, he performed very well.
However, his last start, like those of his teammates in the rotation, left much to be desired. Maio was rocked by the Lobos’ hitting, as 9 of the 13 runs New Mexico scored were in the first two innings.
Even though they pulled the game close, at 13-12, the Utes could not rally to win the game, as they ran out of outs and were swept to open the MWC schedule.
Most of the middle relief has not been playing well for the Utes, though there has been one pitcher who showed he can keep a game close in his relief work.
Jason Snyder pitched very well in middle relief for Maio in Game 3 of the weekend series. He only allowed 1 earned run in 4 innings of work.
Utah has the talent to get the pitching job done, but with the starts the team is getting off to, it is hard to see the Utes competing for the Mountain West title unless the pitchers quickly progress into a solid staff.