It was a tough loss to swallow as the University of Utah (19-19, 9-12 Pac-12) baseball team dropped two of three games to the Washington State Cougars (20-21, 6-12 Pac-12) over the weekend. With the series tied heading into game three and a chance to clinch the series on Saturday, the Utes could not get the job done.
Utah opened the three-game series with a walk off win in the 10th inning on Thursday afternoon for a 2-1 victory. In the bottom of the second the Utes took a 1-0 lead after Zack Moeller hit an RBI single to score Wade Gulden. Utah remained on top until the ninth inning when Washington State got its first run on an RBI single to tie it up. The ballgame was pushed into an extra inning where reliever Jacob Rebar retired the Cougars in order before a fly ball to left field off the bat of Moeller was dropped by the left fielder allowing Dallas Carroll to reach home.
Between the two teams there were just 14 hits on the day. Four of which belonged to Utah; from DaShawn Keirsey, Jr., Hunter Simmons, Moeller, and Dominic Foscalina. The Cougars walked six Utes including Oliver Dunn and Carroll to lead off the final inning.
Jayson Rose threw 7 1/3 innings where he allowed six hits, four walks and struck out seven. Rose has struck out 232 batters over his career bringing him four shy of the Utah career strikeout record, 236. Chase Bauerle surrendered one run on one hit with one walk and one strikeout over an inning. Rebar earned the win after throwing 1 2/3 innings allowing two hits and striking out one.
In game two, the Utes tallied two hits en route to a 10-1 defeat. The Cougars got a run quickly in the first before adding seven more runs in the sixth. The Utes remained scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when Foscalina walked, Ellis Kelly reached first to give Utah its first hit of the day and Keirsey Jr. walked to load the bases. Carroll stepped up to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly that allowed Foscalina to get Utah’s lone run on the board, down 8-1. With a chance to send in more runs with bases re-loaded thanks to a single from Simmons, Utah was not able to follow through. Washington State added its final two runs in the seventh.
“[The pitcher] had a good three pitch mix,” Moeller said. “It was hard to pick up certain pitches.”
Starting pitcher Riley Ottesen earned the loss after pitching 5 1/3 innings allowing eight runs on nine hits with four strikeouts. Trenton Stoltz, Hunter Rodriguez, and Josh Tedeschi also saw time on the mound.
“We didn’t get our offense going this weekend,” said head coach Bill Kinneberg. “They pitched very well against us, but we didn’t swing the bats like we’re capable of doing.“
In the finale on Saturday, Moeller tripled before scoring on a ground out to give Utah a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Washington State put up two runs in the third to go up 2-1, but Utah struck back in the fourth with an RBI single from Moeller and a sacrifice fly from Josh Rose that scored Simmons. Utah was back on top with a 3-2 edge. In the sixth, the Cougars added two runs before Josh Lapiana was replaced on the mound after throwing 5 1/3 innings allowing four runs on eight hits with three walks and one strikeout.
Washington State and Utah both had a run in the seventh, but Utah still trailed 5-4.With one out in the ninth the Utes were trying to make magic happen as Kelly singled but two quick strikeouts ended the ballgame. Tanner Thomas surrendered one run on two hits with one strikeout over 3 1/3 innings. Jacob Rebar pitched the remainder of the game and had one strikeout.
“When you lose particularly at home it hurts,” Kinneberg said. “Those are games that we needed to try to win.”
Utah remains at home for a three-game series against UC Riverside that begins next Thursday.
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