Utah Baseball Begins Season vs. UC Davis
University of Utah sophomore infielder Matt Richardson (4) gets ready to bat during an NCAA Baseball game at the Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City on Thursday, April 11, 2019. (Photo by Kiffer Creveling | Daily Utah Chronicle)
February 13, 2020
The University of Utah baseball team is back for its 2020 season as they head to California to take on UC Davis in a three-game weekend series. Utah will also face Saint Mary’s for one game on Monday.
Utah’s series will start on Friday, Feb. 14 at 3 p.m., continue on Saturday at 2 p.m. and will finish on Sunday at 2 p.m. The first and only game against Saint Mary’s on Monday will start at 3 p.m.
In Utah’s last home series of the 2019 season they faced the Aggies, so this will be a good test to see if the team can pick up where they left off. After the first game got rained out, the Utes won the second game 8-0 and the third 5-1.
Overall Utah is 8-11 against the Aggies. They’ve been facing each other on and off since the mid-2000s. In the first game versus the Aggies last season, the Utes had a strong performance from junior Matt Richardson, who had three hits, two runs and one RBI. David Watson was on the mound in that game, where he threw eight scoreless innings. He’s back for his sophomore season.
In the second matchup, Richardson had another strong game where he went 3-3 and had another RBI. In the two-game series, Richardson went 6-7, so as the Utes go into this weekend against the Aggies, we can look to Richardson for hopefully another strong performance. Isaac Deveaux hit a single in that game and will be back for his redshirt sophomore year. On the bump was Dustyn Schramm, where he pitched eight innings and only allowed one run. Schramm will be back pitching for the Utes this year.
Next, Utah will head to Moraga, California after their time in Davis to take on Saint Mary’s. Saint Mary’s will have just traveled to Texas for a three-game weekend series versus Sam Houston State, so this will be their first home game. The two teams haven’t faced each other since 2016, but the Utes are 5-3 overall against the Gaels. In their last game in March 2016, Saint Mary’s took the win 2-7.
Although the Utes came out at No. 10 in the Pac-12 Coaches Preseason Poll, the team has a lot of returning guys and are looking at a promising season. Right now, Arizona State is ranked first, but two teams are tied for seventh. It’s the game of baseball, and anything can happen to get to the College World Series in Omaha.
While the games won’t be broadcasted for live viewing, you can follow along with live stats here, or head to Utah Baseball’s Instagram and Twitter accounts for live updates.
