The U baseball team must have misunderstood the old saying “two out of three ain’t bad” in its conference opening weekend against San Diego State.
Instead of winning two and losing one, the Utes dropped two and were only able to come away with one victory at Franklin Covey Field against the Aztecs.
The outing dropped the Utes to 7-12 overall on the season and 1-2 in conference play.
Utah started the weekend off with a tough loss in its home opener as it couldn’t figure out SDSU slinger Stephen Strasburg. The pitcher held the Utes to just two runs in eight innings, and the Aztecs went on to a 7-2 win.
“We didn’t meet the challenge in all three phases of the game (on Thursday),” Utah head coach Bill Kinneberg said. “Stephen Strasburg pitched well against us, and he really shut us down.”
One of the few bright spots for the Utes in the home opener was the play of freshman Michael Beltran, who went 3-for-4 from the plate with an RBI. Utah hurler Stephen Fife was stuck with the loss as he allowed five runs and 10 hits in 6.1 innings.
The Utes bounced back on Friday thanks to a solid effort on the mound from junior Brian Budrow. The Oregon State transfer held the Aztecs to four runs in 7.1 innings and got some offensive help as the Utes walked away from Franklin Covey with a 7-5 win. The victory marked Utah’s first conference and home win of the season.
Right fielder Fred Ferguson only had one hit in the contest, but it came at a great time for the Utes. With the Utes and Aztecs knotted at one apiece and the bases loaded, Ferguson ripped a double up through the middle of the Aztec defense, and all three runners scored.
Utah expanded its lead to 6-1 before the Aztecs came charging back. SDSU stroked four hits and scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to cut the Ute lead to two.
When Kinneberg made the decision to bring in closer John James, though, it was all but over. The 6-foot-5 sophomore chucked three strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work, and the Utes snuck away with the win.
“This was a good win for us to battle back after (the previous game),” Kinneberg said. “Brian and John pitched very well. They put us in position to win.”
On offense, the Utes were lead by Beltran and DC Legg, both of whom recorded three hits.
Utah couldn’t maintain its offensive output against the Aztecs on Saturday, though. SDSU jumped out to a sizeable 8-0 margin in the first two innings, and the Utes couldn’t do much to close the gap and eventually lost the game, 9-3.
“We weren’t ready to play early and got in a hole,” Kinneberg said. “We didn’t make the adjustments offensively to get back into the game. We just didn’t come out today, and (I) am disappointed in the way we played.”
The Utes will resume action on Tuesday when they head down to Orem to take on UVSC at 7 p.m.