Utah relievers have struggled in save situations as of late. Tuesday night, the U baseball team’s offense made it easy on them.
Utah took the first of a two-game set against the Gonzaga Bulldogs 16-9 thanks to some heavy hitting in the top of the sixth.
Up comfortably 6-2 in the sixth inning with the meat of the lineup at the plate, the Utes would open up the game for good by scoring five runs. Michael Beltran started off the sixth with a single to right field. Nick Kuroczko followed with another single to right field. A sacrifice bunt would advance the runners. Utah would got two more outs, then rallied.
The Bulldogs made two errors with two outs on the board, which led to five runs on four hits by the Utes. They took an 11-2 lead in the bottom of the inning and starting pitcher Bryn Card, who pitched 6.1 innings, would have plenty of insurance to get the win.
Utah had the bats going the entire game as every starter on offense had a hit and all but three scored a run. Five batters would pick up three hits against the Bulldogs.
It all started in the second inning, when the Utes put two runs on the board and Card shut out the Bulldogs in the bottom half. Austin Jones and Kyle Myers scored in the inning and finished with four and five runs, respectively.
Stephen Streich came in to relive Card after he gave up a hit and two walks in the sixth inning. Streich struggled on the bump, giving up four hits, three runs and a walk in one inning. Robert Chimpky, who has been struggling of late, came in to relieve him in the seventh and didn’t do much better.
Although he picked up two quick outs in the seventh, Chimpky fell apart in the eighth. He gave up two hits and two runs in an inning and a third, leaving with the Utes up 14-9, with an inning left to play.
It wasn’t be the first time this season that Utah gave up a big lead heading into the final inning.
The Utes picked up two more runs in the top of the ninth, giving Greg Krause the insurance to close out the game. When it was all said and done, Utah had nine more hits than Gonzaga, 21-to-12. The Utes will finish their final game in Spokane, Wash., today at 1 p.m.
Tyler CobbCory Shimada drove in three runs on three hits against Gonzaga Tuesday night. The Utes bats where hot all game scoring 16 runs giving them a 16-9 win.