Utah Baseball Takes On UNLV This Weekend

April 24, 2001

Utah at UNLV April 27-29 * Earl E. Wilson Stadium * Las Vegas, Nev.

Probable Pitching Match-UpsFriday, 7:05 p.m. (PDT) - Travis Palmer (5-3, 4.66) vs. Ryan Olson (2-4, 4.99 ERA)Saturday, 5:05 p.m. (PDT) - Jason Wylie (2-2, 6.03) vs. Jared Bonnell (3-4, 6.79 ERA)Sunday, 1:05 p.m. (PDT) - Ryan Bailey (6-3, 6.42) vs. Courtney Hall (7-5, 5.85 ERA)

Probable Utah Line-UpPos.    Name                    B-T Yr. Hometown (Previous School)C   24 - Donald Hawes    R-R Jr. Tremonton, Utah (Bear River HS)1B  14 - Nate Weese            L-R Jr. Bountiful, Utah (Bountiful HS)2B  1 - Adam Castleton R-R Jr. Midvale, Utah (Hillcrest HS)SS  8 - Tommy Maestas   R-R Sr. Albuquerque, N.M. (Trinidad State)3B  6 - Mike Westfall   R-R Fr. Scottsdaelk, Ariz. (Horizon HS)LF  2 - Donnie Saba           L-R So. Sandy, Utah (Brighton HS)CF  21 - Sam Swenson  R-R Sr. South Jordan, Utah (Bingham HS)RF  23 - Brit Pannier    L-L Jr. Salt Lake City (Salt Lake CC)DH  26 - Chris Shelton  R-R Jr. Salt Lake City (Salt Lake CC)

This Week

Utah (21-21, 10-11 MWC) faces UNLV (18-24, 9-12 MWC) in a three-game series this weekend at Earl E. Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev. UNLV is in fourth place in the Mountain West Conference while Utah is in third place, one game ahead of the Rebels. The Utes and Rebels meet Friday at 7:05 p.m. (PDT), Saturday at 5:05 p.m. (PDT) and Sunday at 1:05 p.m. (PDT). Utah took two of the three from UNLV March 23-25 at Franklin Covey Field in Salt Lake City, winning 8-2 in the opener, losing 6-5 in the second game and taking the series finale 12-11.

Utah Update

The Utes are in third place in the Mountain West Conference at 10-11, trailing first-place San Diego State by five games and second-place BYU by four games. For the second consecutive weekend, Utah won two of three on the road in league play. The Utes took the series from Brigham Young, winning on Thursday and Saturday and dropping the middle game of the series. Utah has followed-up a season-long six-game losing streak--all six losses coming in league play---by winning four of its last six.

Utah is first in the MWC with a .318 team batting average. The Utes are the conference leaders in slugging percentage (.532), on base percentage (.387), doubles (105), home runs (63) and total bases (835). Six Utes have a batting average above .300, led by Chris Shelton's .402. Shelton also leads the team in home runs (12) and Nate Weese sets the pace in RBI (49).

The Utes' 6.07 ERA is fourth-best in the conference. Travis Palmer has a 4.89 ERA. Ryan Bailey leads the team in wins with a 6-3 record. Matt McAfee has four saves with a 2.45 ERA in 14 relief appearances.

Scouting UNLV

The Rebels are 18-24 overall and in fourth place in the Mountain West Conference with a 9-12 record. UNLV will play a single game at UC Riverside on Wednesday night before hosting the Utes. The Rebels are 5-7 over their last 12 games. Last weekend, UNLV took two of three at Air Force, losing the opener 19-10 on Friday and sweeping Saturday's doubleheader 9-3 and 12-3.

Garrett Shitanishi ranks sixth in the Mountain West Conference in hitting (.366). Trent Kitsch ranks third in the league in home runs (11) and second in RBI (52). Courtney Hall is eighth in the MWC with a 5.85 ERA and third in wins with a 7-5 record.

Pannier Named MWC Player of the Week

Utah junior outfielder Brit Pannier was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday.

Pannier went 9-for-15 (.600) with seven RBI, four runs scored, three doubles, a triple and two home runs in three games at BYU last week. The transfer from Salt Lake Community College went 3-for-4 with three RBI, a two-run double and a solo home run in Utah's 8-7 series-opening win on Thursday, followed by a 2-for-5, two RBI performance in the Utes' 9-6 loss on Friday. On Saturday, Pannier went 4-for-6 with a solo home run and two RBI in the Utes' 18-10 win over the Cougars.

This is the first player of the week honor in Pannier's career and the fifth for Utah this season.

BYU Series Review

Utah took two of three game from in-state rival Brigham Young last weekend at Miller Park in Provo, Utah. The Utes won the opener 8-7, dropped the middle game 9-6 and routed the Cougars 18-10 to close it out.

The Utes roughed Nate Fernley for seven runs in the fifth inning and handed him just his second loss of the season in an 8-7 win on Thursday night. Fernley, who fell to 11-2, put the Utes down in order the first four innings while his teammates built a 3-0 lead.

Brit Pannier, who went 3-for-4 in the game, hit his eighth home run of the season to right center in the sixth to put Utes in front 8-3. Utah starter Travis Palmer threw 6-1/3 innings, giving up five runs (four earned) off nine hits while striking out six to improve to 5-3. Mitch Maio threw the last two innings in relief. He didn't allow a single Cougar to reach base and struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to get his second save on the season.

Brigham Young scored nine runs off 13 hits Friday in a 9-6 win. Utah chipped away at the BYU lead by scoring two runs in the fourth inning to make it 6-3. BYU led 7-4 after five innings of play. In the bottom of the sixth, Jon Lewis threw two wild pitches allowing BYU to score two runs and go up 9-4. Pannier drove in two runs and Sam Swenson went 3-for-5 from the plate to the lead the Utes. Jason Wylie allowed five hits and six runs in 2-1/3 innings of work in the loss.

The Utes jumped on the Cougars early in game three. Pannier led off the second inning with a home run to right field and the Utes added four more runs in the frame to lead 6-0. Utah's offense remained hot as it posted six more runs in the third inning. Mike Westfall doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a single by Donnie Saba. Adam Castleton singled next and Nate Weese hit a double to right field to score Westfall and Saba. Chris Shelton, Swenson and Pannier also added RBI in the third inning. Ryan Bailey earned the win for Utah after giving up three runs in six innings of work to improve to 6-3. It was Bailey's first outing since April 5 due to a sore throwing shoulder. Matt McAfee grabbed the save, getting his fourth of the season.

Who's Hot?

Chris Shelton (C/DH) has a 17-game hitting streak going into the UNLV series. He has a .507 batting average over the last 17 games with multiple hits in 13 of those contests.

Shelton was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week after hitting .818 in the three-game series against Air Force (April 12-14), going 9-for-11 with three doubles and two home runs. He scored seven runs and drove in seven. In Utah's doubleheader sweep on April 13, Shelton went 6-of-7 with six runs, two home runs, two doubles and five RBI.

Sam Swenson (CF) has a hit in 18 of the last 19 games, including nine multiple-hit games.

Brit Pannier (RF) has a nine game hitting streak and has gotten a hit in 17 of the last 18 games. During his nine-game hitting streak, he is 21-for-42 (.500) with seven multiple-hit games. He has also hit four home runs with 13 RBI.

Donnie Saba (LF) hit .571 (8-for-14) in the BYU series with a double, a triple and four RBI. He also scored six runs hitting in the lead-off position.

Travis Palmer (RHP) has won his last two starts. He went 6-1/3 innings against BYU in the series opener, giving up five runs (four earned) off nine hits while striking out six to improve to 5-3. Palmer went the distance for the first time this season to get a 6-1 win over Air Force in the series opener on April 13. He surrendered an earned run off of 10 hits.

Utah Tidbits

* Utah senior center fielder Sam Swenson became Utah's all-time hits leader on April 7 in the final game of the three-game series against BYU. The South Jordan, Utah, native singled to get his 202nd career hit as a Ute, breaking the mark of 201 set by Casey Child (1995-97). He now has 212 career hits. Swenson has also become the school career leader in three other offensive categories this season. He is first all-time with 668 at bats, 172 runs scored and 15 triples. Swenson is also just 11 total bases away from setting that mark on his own. Child is the current record holder with 390 total bases.

* Shortstop Tommy Maestas continues to hit the ball well. After hitting just .214 in 12 games last season, Maestas is fourth on the team with a .335 average this season with 11 doubles.

* Designated hitter/catcher Chris Shelton leads the team with 25 multiple hits games this season. Mike Westfall is second on that list with 18 and Sam Swenson has 17. Shelton also leads the club with 14 multiple RBI games, including seven games with three or more.

Shelton and Saba in the National Statistics

In the NCAA statistics released on April 24, Chris Shelton ranked 48th in hitting (.406) and Donnie Saba was 13th in triples (6).

Utes in the Mountain West Hitting Statistics * Chris Shelton ranks first in batting average (.406), first in slugging percentage (.756), second in on base percentage (.470), second in runs scored (45), second in hits (65), fifth in RBI (42), third in doubles (16), second in home runs (12), first in total bases (121) and tied for seventh in walks (21).

* Sam Swenson ranks third in batting average (.380), third in slugging percentage (.681), fourth in on base percentage (.466), first in runs scored (45), fourth in hits (62), tied for sixth in doubles (12), third in triples (5), tied for fifth in home runs (9) and third in total bases (111).

* Mike Westfall ranks eighth in batting average (.343) and 10th in slugging percentage (.541), eighth in hits (59), second in doubles (17) and 10th in total bases (93).

* Donnie Saba is third in runs scored (44) and tied for fourth in stolen bases (11).

* Nate Weese is third in RBI (49), fourth in home runs (11) and seventh in total bases (96).

* Tommy Maestas is tied for 10th in doubles (11).

* Adam Castleton is tied for third in triples (4) and fifth in walks (23).

* Brit Pannier is tied for fifth in home runs (9).

Utes in the Mountain West Pitching Statistics

* Travis Palmer is fifth in ERA (4.66), sixth in opponents' batting average (.295) and fourth in innings pitched (73.1).

* Ryan Bailey is tied for fourth in wins (6), fifth in opponents' batting average (.275) and ninth in innings pitched (61.2).

* Matt McAfee is tied for second in saves (4).

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The University of Utah Athletics

Utah Baseball Takes On UNLV This Weekend

Utah at UNLV April 27-29 * Earl E. Wilson Stadium * Las Vegas, Nev.

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