May 9, 2001

Utah vs. New Mexico

May 10-12 - Franklin Covey Field - Salt Lake City

Probable Pitching Match-UpsThursday, 5:00 p.m. (MDT) - Travis Palmer (5-4, 5.61) vs. Chris Cooper (5-6, 5.40)Friday, 5:00 p.m. (MDT) - Jason Wylie (3-3, 6.85) vs. James Vermilyea (4-0, 5.49)Saturday, 12:00 p.m. (MDT) - Ryan Bailey (7-4, 6.10) vs. Jeremy Deyapp (3-2, 4.89)

Probable Utah Line-UpPos.    Name                    B-T Yr. Hometown (Previous School)C   26 - Chris Shelton  R-R Jr. Salt Lake City (Salt Lake CC)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  3 - Rob Stuart         R-R Jr. San Diego, Calif. (U. of San Diego HS)

This Week

Utah (24-26, 12-15 MWC) wraps up the regular season with a three-game series against New Mexico (23-30, 13-14 MWC) this weekend at Franklin Covey Field. Utah is tied with UNLV for fourth place, trailing first-place BYU by 7-1/2 games. New Mexico is in third place, one game ahead of the Utes and 6-1/2 games behind BYU. The Utes and Lobos meet on Thursday and Friday at 5:00 p.m. (MDT) and Saturday at 12:00 p.m. (MDT). Utah's senior class will be honored before Friday night's game. The Utes took two of three from the Lobos Mar. 8-10 in Albuquerque, N.M., to open their conference schedule. New Mexico won the first game 16-11, while Utah took the second game 9-4 and the finale 13-3.

Utah Update

The Utes are tied with UNLV for fourth place in the Mountain West Conference at 12-15, trailing first-place BYU by 7-1/2 games and third-place New Mexico by one game with three games remaining in the regular-season. Utah has lost four of its last six in conference play, losing two of three at UNLV May 4-5 and two of three to San Diego State last Thursday-Saturday at Franklin Covey Field. The Utes also split a doubleheader with Albertson College last Tuesday, winning the first game 13-1 and losing the second game 12-7.

Utah is second in the MWC with a .316 team batting average. The Utes are the conference leaders in slugging percentage (.531), runs scored (413), hits (590), RBI (377), doubles (126), home runs (78) and total bases (992). Seven Utes have a batting average above .300, led by Chris Shelton's .378. Shelton also leads the team in home runs (16). Nate Weese sets the pace in RBI (60).

The Utes' 6.29 ERA is third-best in the conference. Travis Palmer has a 5.61 ERA. Ryan Bailey leads the team in wins with a 7-4 record. Matt McAfee has four saves with a 3.43 ERA in 17 relief appearances.

Mountain West Tournament Set for Next Week

Utah will play in the Mountain West Conference Championship next Wednesday-Saturday at Tony Gwynn Stadium in San Diego, Calif. The double-elimination tournament opens on Wednesday with the No. 1 seed facing the No. 6 seed at 11:00 a.m. (PDT), the No. 3 seed going against the No. 4 seed at 3:00 p.m. (PDT) and the No. 2 seed squaring off against the No. 5 seed at 7:00 p.m. (PDT).

Scouting New Mexico

The Lobos are 23-30 overall and in third place in the Mountain West Conference with a 13-14 record, winning five of their last six in league play. Last weekend, New Mexico took two of three games at UNLV. The Lobos dropped the opener 7-5, but came back to win the second and third games 7-5 and 9-5, respectively.

Troy Cairns leads the team with a .350 batting average and 21 doubles. Anthony Lovato (.333) and Chris Alexander (.323) are both hitting over .300 and have a team-best 40 RBI. Chris Cooper is 5-6 in 15 starts with a 5.40 ERA. He also has 73 strikeouts in 96-2/3 innings.

San Diego State Series Review

Utah lost two of three games to San Diego State last weekend at Franklin Covey Field. The Utes got a convincing 13-3 win in the middle game on Friday and lost a pair of two-run games, falling 9-7 in the opener on Thursday and 5-3 on Saturday.

In the opener, Utah took the lead 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning after Chris Shelton hit a two-run home run scoring Nate Weese. San Diego State tied the game at 4-4 in the fourth and regained the lead after scoring four runs in the fifth. The Utes stranded nine runners and San Diego State left four on base. Shelton hit two home runs in the game, going 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. Brit Pannier went 3-for-5 from the plate with one RBI and two runs scored. Mike Westfall drove in two runs, also going 3-for-5 from the plate. Travis Palmer took the loss for Utah after allowing nine runs and eleven hits in eight innings, dropping him to 5-4 on the year.

Jason Wylie earned the win for the Utes in game two of the series, allowing only five hits and two runs in seven innings of work. Wylie struck out six and walked two, pitching a shutout through six innings. Sean Overholt pitched the eighth and ninth, allowing one run. Weese hit a three-run blast to give Utah a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Pannier drove in three more runs with a double in the third inning. San Diego State also committed two errors in the third as Utah went on to score seven runs on four hits. Donnie Saba smashed a home run to lead off the sixth inning to give the Utes an 11-0 lead. Tommy Maestas homered in the bottom of the seventh to extend Utah's lead. Saba finished with a 3-for-4 performance and Weese drove in four runs.

The Utes were held scoreless through five innings in the third game, held off by the pitching of Brett Julianel, who allowed only five hits in seven innings of work and had six strikeouts. The Utes trailed, 4-0, in the bottom of the sixth when they scored two runs on two hits. Adam Castleton singled in the seventh to score another Utah run, driving in Rob Stuart. The Utes trailed by only a run heading into the ninth inning, but the Aztecs put another run on the board and kept Utah in check in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory. Ryan Bailey suffered the loss for the Utes. Bailey pitched eight innings, allowing seven hits and four runs.

Who's Hot?

Chris Shelton (C/DH) had a 21-game hitting streak before going hitless in the second game of the doubleheader against Albertson College last Tuesday. During the steak, he hit .483 (42-for-87) with multiple hits in 16 of those contests. After the streak was broken, Shelton went 3-for-5 with two home runs and three RBI in game one of the San Diego State series. In the UNLV series (Apr. 27-29), Shelton went 4-for-13 with eight RBI, two home runs and four runs scored.

Sam Swenson (CF) has a hit in 24 of the last 26 games, including 14 multiple-hit games. He went 6-for-13 in the UNLV series (Apr. 27-29) with five RBI and six runs scored. He also jacked two home runs in the series opener.

Mike Westfall (3B) went 8-for-14 (.571) in the UNLV series (Apr. 27-29) 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 24 of the last 26 games. He went 5-for-13 (.385) with three runs, two doubles and five RBI last weekend in the series against San Diego State.

During his recent 10-game hitting streak, which ended in the second game of the UNLV series (Apr. 27-29), he went 23-for-47 (.489) with eight multiple-hit games. He also hit four home runs with 13 RBI.

Donnie Saba (LF) went 6-for-12 (.500) with two RBI and three runs and a home run in the San Diego State series. Before going hitless in the UNLV series two weeks ago, he hit .571 (8-for-14) in three games against BYU (Apr. 19-21) with a double, a triple and four RBI. He also scored six runs hitting in the lead-off position.

Utah Tidbits

* Utah senior center fielder Sam Swenson became Utah's all-time leader in total bases with a grand slam home run in his first at bat against Albertson College last Tuesday. He now has 398 total bases, surpassing the old mark of 390 set by Casey Child (1995-97). Swenson also became Utah's all-time hits leader on Apr. 7 in the final game of the three-game series against BYU. The South Jordan, Utah, native has 224 career hits. Swenson has also become the school career leader in three other offensive categories this season. He is first all-time with 702 at bats, 181 runs scored and 15 triples.

* 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 13 doubles. Last week, he went 6-for-15 with four runs, a double and a home run.

* Designated hitter/catcher Chris Shelton leads the team with 27 multiple hits games this season. Sam Swenson is second on that list with 22 and Mike Westfall has 21. Shelton also leads the club with 18 multiple RBI games, including 10 games with three or more.

Shelton in the National Statistics

In the NCAA statistics released on May 7, Chris Shelton was tied for 23rd in home runs (0.33 per game).

Utes in the Mountain West Hitting Statistics

* Chris Shelton ranks third in batting average (.377), first in slugging percentage (.749), sixth in on base percentage (.450), first in runs scored (57), third in hits (72), fourth in RBI (55), tied for second in doubles (19), second in home runs (16), first in total bases (143) and tied for eighth in walks (23).

* Sam Swenson ranks second in batting average (.378), third in slugging percentage (.690), third in on base percentage (.461), second in runs scored (54), second in hits (74), fifth in RBI (48), tied for eighth in doubles (12), tied for third in triples (5), fifth in home runs (12) and third in total bases (132).

* Mike Westfall ranks ninth in slugging percentage (.571), fourth in hits (71), tied for fifth in RBI (48), tied for second in doubles (19), tied for 10th in home runs (8), fifth in total bases (116).

* Donnie Saba ranks third in runs scored (50), second in triples (6) and tied for eighth in stolen bases (11).

* Nate Weese ranks fifth in runs scored (49), 10th in hits (66), third in RBI (60), fourth in home runs (13) and fourth in total bases (118).

* Adam Castleton ranks ninth in on base percentage (.434), ninth in runs scored (44), is tied for sixth in triples (4) and is fifth in walks (28).

* Brit Pannier ranks fourth in doubles (17), tied for sixth in home runs (9) and eighth in total bases (112).

Utes in the Mountain West Pitching Statistics

* Travis Palmer ranks sixth in ERA (5.61), sixth in opponents' batting average (.293), fourth in innings pitched (86.2), tied for eighth in strikeouts (56) and tied for sixth in wins (5).

* Ryan Bailey is tied for third in wins (7), fourth in opponents' batting average (.271) and eighth in innings pitched (76.2).

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

* Mitch Maio is tied for seventh in saves (2) and is tied for sixth in appearances (18).

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