The University of Utah’s baseball team played five games this past week, two against the Utah Valley Wolverines and three against the California Golden Bears. After splitting the home-and-home series against Utah Valley, the Utes took one of three games at home versus Cal.

The first game against the Wolverines marked MUSS Appreciation Night at Smith’s Ballpark. On a beautiful 76 degree evening, Utah picked up a 10-8 victory. The game got off to a rough start, with UVU scoring four runs in the first inning. The Utes offense responded, scoring eight runs total across the first three innings. The lead turned out to be insurmountable, as a couple more runs and nice pitching in the later innings secured the win.

The highlight of the game came in the third inning. After TJ Clarkson got on base with a double, Cameron Gurney blasted one over the left field wall. Karson Bodily followed this up with another two-run homer of his own. This gave the Utes an 8-7 lead and was crucial in the win.

The following evening, the Utes traveled down to Orem for the second game against Utah Valley. In another close game, Utah fell just short in a 5-6 loss to the Wolverines.

After one side took a lead, it never took long for the other side to respond. Utah broke a 3-3 tie in the 5th inning on a hit from Davis Cop, bringing in Clarkson. Utah Valley responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs of their own, including a home run. The Utes tied the game back up in the sixth when Bruer Webster scored on a Landon Frei sacrifice fly. 

Utah Valley scored in the bottom of the eighth to retake the lead and the Utes weren’t able to respond in the ninth, giving the Wolverines a 6-5 win on Tuesday.

The series against Cal began on Friday evening. Despite picking up 10 hits, Utah was only able to drive in two runs and Cal won the game 3-2.

The game was scoreless until the Golden Bears put one run on the board in both the fifth and sixth inning. The Utes cut into the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Gurney drove in Clarkson on a sacrifice fly. After both teams scored a run in the eighth, Cal was able to hold off Utah in the ninth.

In a shootout on Saturday afternoon, Utah tied the series with a 13-10 victory. Utah built a lead with three runs in both the third and fourth innings. A couple of highlights were Clarkson hitting a two-run homer in the third and Webster tripling in the fourth to drive in a couple more runs.

After the Golden Bears scored five runs in the seventh, the Utes went on a rampage. After scoring five of their own in the seventh, Utah added two more in the eighth to win the game 13-10. Gurney hit Utah’s second home run of the game in the eighth on a shot to right field.

In another high-scoring game, Cal won the series finale 11-8 on Sunday. After Utah took a 2-0 lead early, Cal built up a lead. Despite a steady offensive output, the Utes couldn’t quite catch up. Kai Roberts, Jayden Kiernan, Cop and Bodily all picked up multiple hits. Roberts, Cop, and Bodily recorded RBIs as well.

Looking ahead, the Utes will travel to Provo for the second time this season to take on the BYU Cougars on Tuesday night before heading down to Tucson, Arizona this weekend for a three-game set against the Arizona Wildcats.

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