The U baseball team was looking for a breakout series, in which it could show the rest of the conference that it is ready to compete for the championship.
Now the Utes have it.
Utah defeated the San Diego State Aztecs in two out of three games played at Franklin Covey Field last weekend, winning 5-3, falling 16-1, and prevailing in the rubber match 3-1. The U’s record now stands at 18-13 overall, and 4-5 in conference play. SDSU dropped to 22-11, 5-3.
“This series really showed a lot, because not only did we win two out of three from them, but we won it in a way that shows us we can win without scoring a lot of runs,” said U baseball coach Tim Esmay.
The first game was headlined by junior hurler Jason Wylie returning to form, as he shut down the Aztec hitters. Wylie had struggled in his past few starts, but had a dominant day this time, as he allowed just 3 earned runs in 7.2 innings of work.
Senior 1B Nate Weese’s 22 game hitting streak ended in Game 1, as he went hitless for only the second time this season.
Senior 2B Adam Castleton started things off with a leadoff home run, and catcher Donald Hawes later hit a three run home run to give the Utes the 5-3 lead that would eventually give them the win.
The Aztecs came back in Game 2 with a vengeance and completely demolished the Utes, 16-1.
Senior pitcher Cheyenne Rushton did not fare very well, as he gave up 4 earned runs in 2.1 innings of work. Even though only 4 earned runs were scored against Rushton, 8 total runs were allowed by the Utes.
“It is not all Rushton’s fault, because our defense really let him down, with some huge errors that kept the inning alive,” Esmay said.
Weese started a new hitting streak with a solo shot in the second inning, but that would be the only run the Utes scored all day.
It was the lowest hit total and the fewest number of runs the Utes have scored all season, as San Diego State pitcher Rory Shortell allowed 1 run and 4 hits in a complete game to get his fifth win of the season.
Shortell did not allow more than one baserunner in an inning until the eighth, when he shut the Utes down after they got runners on first and second.
It is hard to believe there could be a better pitching effort in the series better than Shortell’s, but the U’s Mitch Maio came back in Game 3 to provide one of the best pitching efforts the Utes have seen this year.
“Mitch has played incredibly all season, and he won this game for us, but our defense played much better this game, and that is why we were able to shut them down,” Esmay said.
Maio threw a complete game, had 11 strikeouts and only walked one batter in his fifth win of the season. On Monday, he was named the MWC’s Pitcher of the Week for the second straight time (and third overall this year) because of the effort.
The Utes must now get ready for BYU this weekend, but they will first have to play a mid week series against Albertson College on Tuesday and Wednesday at Franklin Covey.
“I am just looking to get guys innings in these two games, and hopefully our guys will be ready to go in Provo,” Esmay said.