Utah Baseball Opens Eight-Game Homestand on Tuesday

April 30, 2001

Utah vs. Alberston College

May 1 (DH) * Franklin Covey Field * Salt Lake City

Utah vs. San Diego State

May 3-5 * Franklin Covey Field * Salt Lake City

Probable Pitching Match-Ups vs. SDSUThursday, 12:00 p.m. (MDT) - Travis Palmer (5-3, 5.15) vs. Marcos Mendoza (5-4, 3.77)Friday, 12:00 p.m. (MDT) - Jason Wylie (2-3, 7.68) vs. Rory Shortell (6-2, 5.81)Saturday, 12:00 p.m. (MDT) - Ryan Bailey (7-3, 6.29) vs. Ben Julianel (2-5, 8.27)

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 (22-23, 11-13 MWC) begins an eight-game homestand at Franklin Covey Field to close out the regular season. The Utes face Albertson College (36-15) in doubleheader on Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. (MDT). This weekend, San Diego State (27-20, 15-9 MWC) is in town for a three-game series. San Diego State is in second place in the Mountain West Conference, trailing BYU by two games. Utah is in a three-way tie with UNLV and New Mexico for third place, four games behind the Aztecs. The Utes and Aztecs play single games Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 12:00 p.m. (MDT). The Utes will be looking for revenge after being swept by San Diego State in a three-game series Mar. 30-Apr. 1 in San Diego, Calif. The Aztecs took the first game 5-3, doubled up the Utes 6-3 in the second game and took the finale 6-5 in 10 innings.

Utah Update

The Utes are in a three-way tie for third place in the Mountain West Conference at 10-11, trailing first-place BYU by six games and second-place San Diego State by four games with six games remaining in the conference regular-season. After winning two of three on the road the two previous weekends, Utah dropped two of three at UNLV last Friday through Sunday.

Utah is tied for first in the MWC with a .320 team batting average. The Utes are the conference leaders in slugging percentage (.540), doubles (117), home runs (71) and total bases (913). Seven Utes have a batting average above .300, led by Chris Shelton's .395. Shelton also leads the team in home runs (14) and RBI (53).

The Utes' 6.36 ERA is third-best in the conference. Travis Palmer has a 5.15 ERA. Ryan Bailey leads the team in wins with a 7-3 record. Matt McAfee has four saves with a 3.60 ERA in 16 relief appearances.

Scouting Albertson College

Albertson College, an NAIA Division II school from Caldwell, Idaho, is 36-15 on the season after winning six in a row and nine of its last 10. The Coyotes are led at the plate by Scott Freeman, who is hitting .410 with five home runs and 37 RBI. Brandon Florence is hitting .376 with eight long balls and 36 driven in. Jason Stefani is best pitcher on the staff with a 7-3 record and a 2.51 ERA. He has 69 strikeouts in 71.2 innings of work.

Scouting San Diego State

The Aztecs are 27-20 overall and in second place in the Mountain West Conference with a 15-9 record. After defeating San Diego 10-5 on Tuesday, the Aztecs were swept by BYU in Provo, Utah, last weekend. The Cougars won 15-9 on Thursday, 17-5 on Friday and 13-12 on Saturday.

Andy Litteral leads SDSU with a .372 batting average. Carlo Cota is hitting .364 with 36 RBI. Pilar Amaya leads the team with 42 RBI and Sean Pierce has a team-best five home runs. Rory Shortell is 6-2 with a 5.81 ERA, while Marcos Mendoza is 5-4 with a 3.77 ERA to lead the pitching staff.

UNLV Series Review

Utah dropped two of three games to UNLV last weekend in Las Vegas, Nev. In a series dominated by offense, The Rebels won Friday 12-11 and took Saturday's game 11-10. The Utes rallied to take the third game 15-6.

The Utes jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the top of the fourth and led 11-10 going into the bottom of the ninth inning before Jason Reuss' two-run homer gave the Rebels a 12-11 win in the opener. Starter Travis Palmer gave up seven runs on six hits and two walks in 5-1/3 innings. Reliever Matt McAfee took the loss. Sam Swenson went 3-for-5 with four RBI, two home runs and three runs scored. Chris Shelton went 2-for-3 with a double and a home run.

Utah fell behind 11-2 on Saturday before scoring seven runs in the sixth inning and one in the seventh. Utah had the bases loaded in the eighth, but reliever Joe Maruffi entered for UNLV and ended the threat, then held off the Utes in the ninth. Jason Wylie surrendered nine runs (eight earned) off 10 hits in two innings to fall to 2-3. Mike Westfall jacked three big flies to tie the school single-game record, going 4-of-5 with four runs scored.

Tommy Maestas went 3-for-4 from the plate driving in four runs and scoring two as Utah jumped on UNLV in the late innings to win 15-6 to avoid the sweep. Adam Castleton hit his third home run of the year and drove in three runs. Mike Basham drove in three runs and Chris Shelton drove in two. Britt Pannier went 4-for-5 with three runs. Ryan Bailey (7-3) picked up the win for Utah after allowing four earned runs in seven innings of work. Courtney Hall got the loss for UNLV after giving up five, dropping him to 7-6.

Who's Hot?

Chris Shelton (C/DH) has a 20-game hitting streak going into the San Diego State series. He has a .475 batting average (39-for-82) over the last 20 games with multiple hits in 15 of those contests. In the UNLV series, Shelton went 4-for-13 with eight RBI, two home runs and four runs scored.

Shelton was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week after hitting .818 in the three-game series against Air Force (Apr. 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 21 of the last 22 games, including 11 multiple-hit games. He went 6-for-13 in the UNLV series with five RBI and six runs scored. He also jacked two home runs in the series opener last Friday.

Mike Westfall (3B) went 8-for-14 (.571) in the UNLV series with seven RBI and six runs scored. In the second game of the series, Westfall jacked three home runs to tie the school single-game record in a 4-for-5 effort.

Brit Pannier (RF) has a hit in 19 of the last 21 games. During his recent 10-game hitting streak, which ended in the second game of the UNLV series last weekend, he went 23-for-47 (.489) with eight multiple-hit games. He also hit four home runs with 13 RBI.

Pannier was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week on April 24. He went 9-for-15 (.600) with seven RBI, four runs scored, three doubles, a triple and two home runs in three games at BYU (Apr. 19-21).

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.

Ryan Bailey (RHP) has won his last two starts after missing the Air Force series with soreness in his throwing shoulder. In his last two outings in victories over BYU and UNLV, he gave up seven earned runs off 13 hits and four walks in 13 innings. He also has seven strikeouts.

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 218 career hits. Swenson has also become the school career leader in three other offensive categories this season. He is first all-time with 681 at bats, 178 runs scored and 15 triples. Swenson is also just two 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 .329 average this season with 12 doubles.

* Designated hitter/catcher Chris Shelton leads the team with 26 multiple hits games this season. Mike Westfall is second on that list with 20 and Sam Swenson has 19. Shelton also leads the club with 17 multiple RBI games, including nine 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 (.399), first in slugging percentage (.769), fourth in on base percentage (.465), second in runs scored (50), second in hits (69), third in RBI (50), third in doubles (18), second in home runs (14), first in total bases (133) and tied for eighth in walks (23).

* Sam Swenson ranks fourth in batting average (.386), second in slugging percentage (.699), third in on base percentage (.471), first in runs scored (51), tied for third in hits (68), tied for eighth in doubles (12), tied for third in triples (5), tied for fourth in home runs (11) and third in total bases (123).

* Mike Westfall ranks sixth in batting average (.360), sixth in slugging percentage (.602), fifth in hits (67), tied for first in doubles (19), tied for 10th in home runs (8), fourth in total bases (112).

* Donnie Saba is fourth in runs scored (45) and tied for sixth in stolen bases (11).

* Nate Weese is tied for third in RBI (50), tied for fourth in home runs (11) and eighth in total bases (104).

* Tommy Maestas is tied for 10th in doubles (12).

* Adam Castleton is tied for fifth in triples (4) and is fifth in walks (25).

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

Utes in the Mountain West Pitching Statistics

* Travis Palmer is fifth in ERA (5.15), sixth in opponents' batting average (.288), fourth in innings pitched (78.2) and tied for sixth in wins (5).

* Ryan Bailey is 10th in ERA (6.29), tied for third in wins (7), fourth in opponents' batting average (.273) and eighth in innings pitched (68.2).

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

* Mitch Maio is tied for seventh in saves (2).

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