Although the Utes’ pitching struggled on a cold midweek contest against UVU, the offense didn’t.
Utah picked up its third straight win after a late-game rally propelled the Utes to a 9-6 win over the Wolverines (7-19). The game was scheduled to be played at Franklin Covey Field, but was moved to Orem because of field conditions. The Utes were still the home team and improved to .500 for the season.
Robert Chimpky picked up his first win and Greg Krause recorded his second straight save, which was also his second of the season. The Utes had 10 hits in the game, the two best efforts came from Corey Shimada and Austin Jones, who recorded two RBIs a piece.
After finding themselves down 6-3 after the top half of the seventh inning, the Utes rallied in the bottom half of the inning to take a 9-6 lead. UVU’s pitching gave Utah a lot of help in the first part of the inning, walking the first four batters.
With the bases loaded and the score 6-4 in the Wolverines’ favor, Austin Jones hit a double to right center. The hit gave Jones two RBIs for the at bat and knotted the game at 6-6.
Utah added three more runs with two outs, one on a wild pitch and two more on a double by Tyler Yagi, who pinch-hit for Gavin Green.
Although the Utes picked up the win, their pitching staff struggled for the majority of the night. Five pitchers saw action for the Utes in this up-and-down game.
Jordan Whatcott (2-1) got the start and gave up a run and two hits in three innings on the bump before being replaced by Bryn Card in the fourth.
Card started out strong in the fourth, picking up one strikeout and gave up zero hits in the inning. The top of the fifth inning was a different story for Card.
UVU started the fifth with two singles, the second advancing the runner to third. After Kirk Doxey fouled out, the Wolverines best batter, Jake Rickenbach tripled to right field, plating two runs in the process. The two RBIs tied the contest at 3-3 with one out on the board. The Utes would add one more run and finished the inning with three runs on five hits.
Card pitched one more inning in which the Wolverines would only pick up one hit. Joe Pond came in to relieve Card of his duties in the top of the seventh. The freshman only saw a third of the inning, giving up two runs on two hits. The defense didn’t give Pond much help, as it committed two of its three errors while he was on the mound.
Robert Chimpky relieved Pond and gave the Utes their best inning since Whatcott was on the mound. Chimpky pitched 1.2 innings and only gave up two hits and no runs before being relieved by Krause in the top of the ninth.
Krause started the inning well after a ground out to record the Wolverines’ first out. It got a little interesting from there, as the next three batters reached base, leaving the bases loaded with one out. Krause was able to get out of the inning as he struck out the next two batters, picking up the save.
Tyler CobbUtah second baseman Cory Shimada went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI?s and two runs scored in the Utes 9-6 win over Utah Valley University. The game was a home game for Utah but it had to be played in Orem because of weather.