The 2008 U baseball season hasn’t begun, but the team is already at a disadvantage.
It’s no surprise to them, though. The Utes are at a disadvantage nearly every season. Those are the breaks when you live and play in Salt Lake City, where sleet and snow can douse the ground well into March and thus force baseball teams to play indoors for the first couple of months.
“We want to go out and play well, and we feel like we’re ready to do that,” Utah head coach Bill Kinneberg said. “But realistically, we’re going to be a step behind at the plate and we’re going to be a step behind in the field, because we’ve been playing on turf every day so far.”
Exacerbating the Utes’ problems is the fact that more than half of the roster will be donning a Utah uniform for the first time. In total, six of the 16 new faces will be starting for the Utes this weekend when they open their season at San Jose State.
One face the Utes will sorely miss this weekend-and every game they play until he returns to the team-is center fielder Nate Burnham. The senior, who was selected as a preseason All-MWC pick, will have to sit out for an undetermined amount of time while the NCAA considers his eligibility.
Kinneberg says that the confusion happened because of a mission Burnham took for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the coach didn’t know when the matter would be cleared up.
Burnham was the only returning Ute in the outfield with experience, so Utah will be a little thin.
“Naturally, we would be a lot better with Burnham out there,” Kinneberg said. “He gives us depth and leadership, so, yeah, I’m a little worried about our outfield. But we’ve got four guys that can play so that if (Burnham doesn’t return soon), we’re still going to be OK. If everything turns out, Nate will start center field soon.”
On the upside, the Utes’ talent-rich youth appears to be ready to roll and has plenty of veteran leadership for guidance. Starring at second base for the Utes will be preseason all-conference pick Corey Shimada. Shimada led the league and was third in the nation in triples a season ago, and is expected to bolster the offense again this year.
The Utes also return Cody Guymon and Jesse Shriner, who split time behind the plate a season ago. They are expected to do the same this season. Kinneberg says that both are more than capable of filling the designated hitter slot if need be.
Throwing balls at Guymon and Shriner will be a talented corps of pitchers. Stephen Fife is expected to be the Utes’ No. 1 gun and will start against the Spartans when they open their season tonight at 7 p.m.
Also expected to make starts this weekend are Brian Budrow, Andrew Wilding and Kerr Foster. Sophomore John James is also expected to pitch this season, but will not this weekend because of illness and injury. Geoff Wolfgramm will also likely play innings in relief and Robert Chimpky is expected to close games.
“I think the strength of the club going into this week is our pitching,” Kinneberg said. “Basically everybody is healthy and everybody is ready to go, with the exception of John James.”
The Spartans are largely in the same boat as the Utes this season in terms of new talent. SJSU has 24 new players on its roster.
The Utes and Spartans will play a double-header today, one game tomorrow at 1 p.m., then cap the weekend Sunday on with a 1 p.m. start time.