Utah Baseball Drops Midweek Game at BYU
University of Utah graduate student Jaylon McLaughlin(10) in a NCAA Baseball game vs. Washington State at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, April. 10, 2021. (Photo by Kevin Cody | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
April 14, 2021
Utah baseball traveled down to Provo for a midweek game against BYU. The Utes were coming off a loss at home in game three of a series with Washington State in which Utah went 1-2. The last meeting with the team down south ended with two wins for Utah before the third game in the series was postponed due to weather. Last night winds in Provo reached as high as 23 mph in the three-hour play time, but the weather otherwise cooperated.
Utah got started in the first inning with lead-off batter Jaylon McLaughlin reaching first on a passed third strike, later coming home on a wild pitch. Kai Roberts doubled and made it to third on a balk but two more outs would end the inning, Utah up 1-0. BYU answered in the third with two runs of their own.
The Utes battled back in the sixth inning with three runs starting with bases loaded with two outs. Shea Kramer singled to right field to score Roberts and Christopher Rowan. Chase Fernlund followed up with a double down the right-field line to score Kramer and Vinny Zavolta and put Utah up 4-2.
BYU answered with one run in the sixth and looked to be rolling over for Utah. The Cougars then followed with a three-run seventh inning, adding another in the eighth. BYU then held Utah for three innings to take the game 7-4. Utah is 2-1 against BYU this season with one more game to be played on May 18. McLaughlin, who stole one base against BYU, leads the team with 11. Shea Kramer who racked up two of the Utes’ three RBIs on the night took the team’s top spot for the season with 16. Rykker Tom leads the team with a .423 batting average.
Utah will head out on the road this weekend for a three-game Pac-12 conference series with UCLA. The Bruins are averaging .278 at the plate and find their way to the bags with a .382 OB%. While their record is 18-11, UCLA has struggled with in-conference opponents with a 6-6 record. In their most recent matchup, UCLA dropped the first two games of a three-game series against Stanford. UCLA allowed 18 runs in the series.
While Utah was playing BYU in Provo, UCLA was handing Loyola Marymount a 12-2 loss in Los Angeles, meaning they will be playing with momentum at home. The first pitch in Utah at UCLA game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. MDT, on Friday, April 16, and will be broadcast by UCLA.
