With the regular season winding down, the Utah baseball team is starting to feel the pressure. Sitting with a record of 13-23, 5-10 in conference play, the Utes will have to win these final games of the season if they hope to make it to the postseason.
Utah is coming off of an emotional loss to in-state rival BYU on Tuesday, dropping the contest to the Cougars by a lone run. This wasn’t the first time the Utes have been involved in a close game.
So far this season, 17 of the team’s 36 games have been decided by two runs or less, as Utah has been in position to win most of its games. However, crucial mistakes by the Utes have made it difficult to pull out victories in those tight games.
“Those are the reasons we are losing right now,” junior Dalton Carroll said. “I think right now when the seventh, eighth and ninth [innings] come, everyone is kind of worried, not so much of blowing the lead, but if we can get to the point where we feel secure in every game.”
Another aspect with which the team has struggled this season is winning the opening-night game of a series. Junior AJ Young said that it’s very important to win that first game because it gives the winning team all the momentum throughout the weekend.
“We haven’t won a Friday game since I think our opener,” Young said. “That was the first game of the season. That’s a big aspect, starting off hot and keeping the momentum on our side.”
Pitching in that Friday game is pivotal. Utah head coach Bill Kinneberg has said in the past that he has full confidence in typical Friday-night starter Nolan Stouder to lead the Utes to a strong performance at the start of the weekend.
Whether it’s Stouder on the mound or Cody Scaggari in the box, the motto “take one pitch at a time” has been ingrained in the Utes’ minds.
“We like to take it one day at a time, one step at a time and one game at a time,” Scaggari said. “We need to make sure to be ready to go every single day, every single game because every game matters. At this point and throughout the season.”
Utah will look to rid itself of its first-game struggles when the Utes host Washington State on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. MT from Smith’s Ballpark.
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