The Utah baseball team (3-9) will attempt to break its early-season slump this weekend in Moraga, Calif. against the Saint Mary’s Gaels (7-6). Through the first three weeks of the 2016 season, the Utes have lost three of four in three consecutive weekends.
In last weekend’s series the Utes struggled to score runs, despite having many opportunities with runners on base. Utah’s offensive struggles are no secret to the team, but recently there have been signs of improvement. The Utes are tied for the Pac-12 lead in home runs with seven on the season.
“The end results were not what we anticipated or wanted, but we did some things well, particularly on the pitching side, where three of our four starters did a nice job getting us to the seventh inning,” Utah head coach Bill Kinneberg said. “So we really pitched well, and offensively we put a lot of runners on base, but ultimately we did not score many of them. That’s something that we are going to have to do a better job at, is continuing to swing the bats well but get those timely hits and RBIs.”
Saint Mary’s spent last weekend at the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Ariz., splitting the four-game tournament 2-2. The Gaels defeated Cal State Bakersfield twice before falling to Northwestern State and Arizona. They were originally supposed to play San Jose State on Wednesday, before the game was postponed due to rain.
Much like that series, Utah’s three-game series with Saint Mary’s, with the first game originally scheduled for Friday, March 11, has been changed due to weather conditions. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday and then return Sunday to wrap up the series, starting at noon.
In the first of Saturday’s doubleheader, Jayson Rose (2.37 ERA) will start on the mound for Utah. Rose’s ERA is a team-best, as are his 18 strikeouts on the season. Thirty minutes after the completion of the first game, Dalton Carroll (2-1) will looking to continue his success, after pitching Utah’s only shutout on the season last Saturday in a 2-0 victory over Houston Baptist. On Sunday, Josh Lapiana, who is 0-2 in his three starts on the season with a 4.42 ERA, will be the starting pitcher for the Utes.
Despite the lack of runs being produced, the Utes have four hitters hitting above .300 — Kellen Marrrufo, Cody Scaggari, Kody Davis and Max Schuman. Catcher AJ Young currently leads the team in RBIs (7), home runs (2) and doubles (3). The Utes are 1-9 when scoring fewer than ten runs and 0-7 when allowing more than five.
The key for the Utes may be as simple as more offensive production, as they are 0-7 when they’re outhit by the opponent, yet are 3-2 when totaling more hits than the opponent.
Saturday’s doubleheader between Utah and Saint Mary’s will begin at 10 a.m. MST at Louis Guisto Field. Following the three-game series against the Gaels, the Utes will return to the diamond on March 15, for a rivalry matchup against the BYU Cougars down in Provo.
@ArmenMShrikian