Utah Baseball Goes 1-2 In Series Against UT Arlington
Catcher Shea Kramer (26) talks with pitcher Riley Pierce (10) on the mound as Utes Baseball takes on BYU Cougars at Smith’s Ballpark May 8, 2018.(Photo by: Justin Prather | Daily Utah Chronicle).
March 2, 2020
The University of Utah baseball team headed down south to Texas to take on the UT Arlington Mavericks this weekend where they went 1-2. This brings their season to 4-6, 0-0 Pac-12.
For the first game versus the Mavericks the Utes just weren’t able to get the bats going as they lost 0-6. Justin Kelly had an incredible day on the mound going 6.1 innings and only giving up three earned runs. Utah had five hits on the day but made two errors. Jayden Kiernan got on base four times, with a hit and three walks. But the hitting just wasn’t enough for the Utes to move past the Mavericks.
Utah got back in their groove for the second game and beat the tough Texas team 9-5. Utah had nine hits that achieved them their nine runs and UT Arlington made three fielding errors on the day. Freshman Trey Clarkson led the team going 3-5, four RBIs and hitting his first collegiate home run. Chase Fernlund also had a great day on the sticks, going 2-4 and 2 RBIs. David Watson was on the bump for the Utes where he pitched five innings, tabbed six strikeouts, only allowed three runs and gave up three hits. Dustyn Schramm was the relief pitcher, going four innings and earning the save for the Utes.
“The momentum changed when we had runners on, we tried to hit the ball up the middle and get some line drives. We just stuck to our approach and were able to find a way,” Clarkson told Utah Athletics.
In the third and final game, errors early on by the Utes led to UTA taking the win 1-8. In the second inning, Utah had two errors leading the Mavericks to score six runs. Five of those runs were unearned. Several Utah pitchers took the mound — Josh Giffins, Riley Pierce, Sean Bolin, Ian Maclver and Zac McCleve. UTA tabbed two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Utah finally got the bats going as they went to the top of the ninth where Christopher Rowan Jr. scored Vinny Zavolta with the Utes only run of the day.
Next weekend Utah will be on the road again before starting Pac-12 play the next week. They will play a three-game series in Minneapolis against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. First pitch will be on Friday at 5:30 p.m., followed by Saturday at 5 p.m., then the final game Sunday at noon. You can follow along with live stats here, or on Utah baseball’s Twitter. The game will also be live streamed here.
