Every team loves to get another crack at a squad that beat them and for the Utah baseball team that second chance comes this weekend when it travels to Kansas.
YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: UTES FOCUS ON MAKING CONTACT, NOT POWER
Utah (2-10) will square off against the Jayhawks for the second time this season after dropping the first game, 6-3 in the Pac-12/Big 12 challenge last month.
The hitting has been the concern for the team thus far in the season and because of it the Utes have been on the losing end of many close games. Out of their 12 games this season, 10 have been within three runs with Utah only walking away victorious in two of those contests.
“It (hitting) is very important,” junior Cody Scaggari said. “All aspects of the game are very important. Offense, defense and pitching. If you can’t put it together, you’re not going to win too many ball games. We need to do a better job putting it all together.”
Scaggari said that he has faith in his teammates, and the offense in general, and he believes the Utes will soon have a breakthrough and the wins will start coming. Sophomore AJ Young said it’s vital for the team to start hitting this weekend so it can ease the pressure mounting on the defense and pitching staff.
“It releases pressure from the pitcher so they don’t have to be perfect,” freshman Wade Gulden said. “If we’re going up, putting five runs on the board, there is a good chance we are going to win with our pitchers pitching the way that they have.”
Utah hopes to score runs quick in the contest to give themselves some breathing room early. This wasn’t the case the last time the Utes squared off against the Jayhawks as Kansas took a quick 4-0 lead.
Young said if Utah gets up early on the opponent, it works in its favor because its defense and pitching is very strong.
The Utes will go with the same four starting pitchers they’ve used all season in the series, but are switching up the order.
Junior Bret Helton will get the start on Friday night with junior Dalton Carroll moving to Saturday after grabbing Utah’s only victory in their series against Nicholls State. Freshman Jayson Rose will close out the series on the mound on Sunday.
Both Helton and Rose rank in the top 10 in the conference in ERA, while Helton and Carroll are the only Utah pitchers to have posted victories.
This will be Utah’s last weekend before conference play begins. The Utes will face off against Arizona next weekend.
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