The momentum of the season can be changed in one weekend and the Utah baseball team is hoping it just had its breakthrough series.
MEN’S TENNIS: UTES DOWN COUGARS 4-2 IN PROVO
After dropping the first game against Kansas of Friday, the Utes stormed back to take the final two contests and win their first series of the year.
“It’s good for us to win the series against a Big 12 opponent on the road,” head coach Bill Kinnerberg said.
After dropping a close one, 7-5 on Friday night, the Utes had their most dominating victory of the season grounding the Jayhawks, 5-1 on Saturday and then closed out the series with an 8-4 victory Sunday.
In Friday’s loss, junior Bret Helton struggled getting started and gave up nine hits and five runs in three innings of work. With the loss, Helton’s record drops to 1-1 on the year. He was replaced by freshman Trenton Stoltz, who pitched four innings and gave up two runs on six hits.
The pitching stuggles wasted Utah’s most successful day at the plate this season.
Junior Wyler Smith went 3-for-4 and scored two runs. Sophomore Hunter Simmons and junior Cody Scaggari both went 2-for-5, while junior Kody Davis also had two hits as he went 2-for-4. The Ute offense couldn’t overcome the pitching struggles though and Utah dropped the game, 7-5.
Game two saw Utah struggle to get runs on the board early, but junior pitcher Dalton Carroll made sure it didn’t matter. Carroll threw a complete game and gave up just one run on six hits, while throwing a total of 91 pitches.
Kansas took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning before Utah took off, scoring one run in the sixth, one run in the seventh and three runs in the eighth to take the game 5-1.
Davis again had a good day hitting, going 3-for-5, while Smith went 2-for-4 and Scaggari went 1-for-4 with a three-run home run. Sophomore AJ Young also joined the home run action when he knocked one out of the park to tie the game at one in the fifth inning. Sophomore Max Schuman drove home the Utes’ other run.
Utah continued their game two into the final game of the series and held Kansas in check to capture the 8-4 victory and take the series.
“We did swing the bat well, and we got eight runs, which is great, but we had opportunities for many more,” Kinnerberg said. “I feel like we gave up a lot of opportunities too. On the plus side of that, our pitchers really kept them at bay, so it all worked out just fine.”
Freshman Jayson Rose pitched a solid five innings and only allowed two runs on four hits, striking out two. Scaggari was perfect at the plate collecting four hits on four appearances. He hit his third home run of the season and racked up three RBIs. Smith was also hitting well as he went 2-for-2 and Davis had another strong performance at the plate, going 2-for-4.
“Going to Lawrence and winning 2-of-3 is good.” Kinneberg said. “I think we got better, and I think that we’ve figured out the roles on the team. Now it’s on to conference.”
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