Utah took down its second Pac-12 opponent of the season this weekend, claiming its three-game series versus Washington State 2-1.
The Utes came out hot to open the weekend with a 7-4 come-from-behind win Friday and a 2-1 victory Saturday, fueled by two Trey Nielsen homers. However, Utah lost some of its competitive fire Sunday, as it was shut out 5-0.
“I was proud of the weekend that we won the series, but I was not proud of the way we played tonight,” said head coach Bill Kinneberg after Sunday’s loss. “We’ve got to learn that when we have a chance for a sweep in this league, that’s huge and we have got to learn how to do that. That comes with really coming out and being competitive on the third day.”
Washington State pitcher Scott Simon threw a complete game Sunday, allowing just five hits while striking out seven on his way to the shutout. Despite Simon’s stats, Utes outfielder Tyler Relf said his team didn’t swing the bat well.
“We just got out in front,” Relf said. “He wasn’t overpowering. He didn’t have anything special. We just took a lot of bad swings. We have to be more locked in when we go up to the plate. When we do that, we have success.”
Relf didn’t struggle the way the rest of the Utes did. He went 2-for-3 on the night with a pair of doubles and extended his hitting streak to six games.
Relf had success throughout the weekend, as his RBI double Friday afternoon kickstarted a four-run eighth inning for Utah that lifted it over the Cougars to open the series.
Mitch Watrous struggled from the mound for the Utes in the first two innings of that game, as he allowed an early 4-0 WSU advantage. Watrous regained his composure and shut down the Cougars for the next six innings as the Utah offense mounted a comeback.
“The defense picked him up, turning four double plays,” Kinneberg said. “Then we got some key hits late in that eighth inning and were able to get the victory.”
Saturday saw another dominant pitching performance for Utah from Dalton Carroll. He went 6 and 1/3 innings and allowed just one run on six hits. Carroll’s outstanding pitching performance coupled with Trey Nielsen’s two solo shots was enough to garner the second win of the series for the Utes.
Nielsen said he doesn’t deserve all of the credit for his success at the plate.
“(WSU pitcher Tanner Chleborad) was helping me out by hanging that pitch,” Nielsen said. “So, I got to give some credit to him.”
Utah may have been disappointed to miss its chance at completing the sweep, but Relf said every win in conference play is huge.
“It feels great. Any time you beat a Pac-12 team two out of three games, you know you’re doing something right,” Relf said. “Hopefully we can get the next one and start putting a little dent in the Pac-12 and work our way up the standings.”
The Utes will head down to Provo on Tuesday night to face BYU for the second of four meetings between the rivals this season.