In their last home appearance of the 2018 season, the University of Utah baseball team hosted the Huskies of the University of Washington for a three game stint to close out the first week of May. Utah fell in all three games to the Huskies in front of a home crowd at Smith’s Ballpark.
In their first game on Thursday afternoon, Utah fell 6-4, but not without a fight. Both teams went scoreless until the fifth inning when the Huskies scored three runs and the Utes answered with one.
Washington continued to score one more run in each of the next three innings, while Utah could manage only three more runs in the game.
In game two, Washington started off strong, scoring three runs in the first half of the first innings. Utah came back with a leadoff single from DaShawn Keirsey Jr., which was followed by an RBI single from Oliver Dunn.
“After DeShawn’s leadoff double, I was just trying to get him to third base to easy score and battled through a couple of off-speed pitches and two strikes,” sophomore Oliver Dunn said. “He left a fastball over the middle and I was able get the barrel to it and score him. I’m just trying to move him first and get on base second.”
Both teams then went though five scoreless innings before Washington managed one run in the top of the sixth inning, making the score 4-1.
Utah had runners on base in the bottom of the eighth, but was unable to capitalize and gain runs. In the top of the ninth, Washington put runners on second and third, and then knocked a home run over the right field fence to put Washington up 7-1. Utah ended the inning with a big catch on the warning track in right field.
Utah started off the bottom of the ninth inning with a triple from Keirsey Jr., and this was followed by Dunn getting walked. Utah scores one run off of a single from Erick Migueles. A double play ended the game and Utah fell with a final score of 7-2.
“We need to win this [Saturday’s] game. They are a bubble team, and I think that we could hurt their chances of getting into the postseason, which would be cool because they kind of did that to us last year,” said Dunn. “We just need to play defense better in the beginning of the game and get to their pitcher earlier. He commanded the zone well today, and we just need stay within our approach and attack our pitches.”
Saturday brought around senior day, as well as the final home game of the season for the Utes. The game started off close, with each team putting up two runs in their respective halves of the first inning. Washington followed up with a two run second, and Utah didn’t score again until the fourth.
Each team scored twice in the fifth and by the end of the eighth inning it was 10-7 Washington. The ninth inning brought in three runs for Washington and none for Utah, and the Utes fell 13-7 in their final home game of the season.
“We battled all day. The pitcher over there had his stuff going, so we were all just up there battling,” junior Erick Migueles said. “Our pitchers kept us in the game as long as they could, and that’s pretty much all you can do.”
Utah makes their final Pac-12 appearance on Thursday in Pullman, Washington against the Cougars of Washington State University.
