A tournament headlined with high scores and pitching efforts that left little to be desired would seem to favor the U baseball team, considering the tremendous offensive arsenal of the Utes.
However, the Utes could not find any answers for UNLV, as the Rebels beat Utah twice at the double elimination Mountain West Conference Tournament last weekend in Provo.
“This was a tough tournament, and to see it come down to this after such a tough season is a tough thing to stomach,” U coach Tim Esmay said.
After a loss to the Rebels in the opening round, the U defeated New Mexico to advance to the loser’s bracket second round.
However, the team waiting for the U was the same UNLV team, and Rebel David Trujillo seemed to have it out for the Utes. The Vegas designated hitter had 4 homeruns in two games against Utah, as the Utes bowed out of the tourney in three games.
Throughout the season, the Utes had great pitching from their top three starters.
That didn’t show at the MWCs.
In Utah’s elimination game with UNLV May 24, starter Cheyenne Rushton was shelled in his final game in a U uniform. Rushton allowed 8 earned runs in only 3.2 innings of work.
The Utes found themselves down 8-1 after the top of the fourth when they orchestrated a rally, just as the Rebels had done to the Utes in Game 1.
Two days earlier, the Rebels came back from a 9-2 U lead in the seventh inning to shock the Utes with a 13-9 victory in the opening round.
Utah looked to give the Rebs a taste of their own medicine in Game 3.
Brit Pannier started the rally by launching a 2-run shot off Rebels’ starting pitcher Giavanni Pupo. The gap was closed to 8-3.
However, the Rebels answered the home run with 2 more runs in the fifth inning to extend the lead to 10-3. The Utes had their chance for redemption, as Mike Basham’s 2-run job was half of 4 runs in the sixth inning to close the gap to 10-7.
With two on and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Utes looked to tie the game up, as Nate Weese came up to the plate, already the owner of a solo shot earlier in the contest.
Weese ripped a shot down the first base line, but UNLV first baseman Joe Wickman took the air out of the Utes with an amazing stab, and then completed a double play at second base to get the Rebels out of the inning.
“That was tough to watch, because we had all the momentum on our side and it was going to be tough to comeback after a play like that,” Esmay said.
The play took the air out of the Utes, and UNLV triumphed 13-7.
One day prior, the Utes got their only win of the tourney, a 9-8 win over New Mexico.
After a 3-0 deficit, Utah rallied to extend its lead to 8-4. With the U clinging to a 6-4 lead, UNM reliever Kris Gross interfered with a U runner. The next batter, Matt Ciramella, hit a two-run job into a right field evergreen.
The Lobos got 3 more runs off U starter Jason Wylie, and in came freshman Brady Martinez. Martinez gave up only one run in 3.1 innings, a solo shot in the ninth, as Utah won 9-8.
“Brady was huge. He shut the door down… I told the team if we had the lead in the seventh, we had to keep it?and that’s exactly what we did,” Esmay said.
However, a day later the Utes were knocked out and the season was over. But the season was not a complete loss. “We accomplished a lot this year, and I am proud of the way our guys played,” Esmay said. “We had plenty of guys who accomplished amazing feats, but we just couldn’t get it done in the end.”