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Utah Baseball Notes
5/24/2004 12:00 AM | Baseball
May 24, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY -
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Coming Up
Utah (21-34, 11-19) travels to Las Vegas, Nev., for the Mountain West Conference Championship this Wednesday-Saturday, May 26-29. The No. 5-seed Utes face fourth-seeded Brigham Young at 11 a.m. (PDT) Wednesday, in the first round of the tournament. Should Utah lose that game, it will play the loser of the first-round game between Air Force and UNLV at 7 p.m. Wednesday. If the Utes win their first-round game, they will face No. 1 San Diego State at 3 p.m. on Thursday unless Air Force beats UNLV on Wednesday, in which case Utah would face New Mexico at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
2004 MWC Championship Bracket in PDF Format
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Utah Probable Starters
Pos. Name B/T BA R H 2B 3B HR RBIC Trevor Eastman R/R .272 30 37 11 0 3 31 1B Michael Westfall, Jr. R/R .274 24 43 6 0 3 23 2B Jared Pena R/R .355 42 78 24 2 7 51 3B Jay Brossman R/R .374 38 58 10 2 2 22 SS Ryan Khoury R/R .307 39 67 13 0 5 24 LF John Welsh R/R .252 19 32 7 3 4 20 CF Matt Ciaramella S/L .364 49 84 27 1 13 61 RF Eric Chevalier L/L .325 43 63 11 6 8 36 DH Tyson Olson L/L .261 35 46 12 6 5 36
First Round Pitching Match-Up
Wednesday, May 26 B/T ERA W-L G/GS IP H R ER BB KOJason Price (Utah) L/L 5.92 3-8 20/16 100.1 116 82 66 43 97 Patrick Wells (BYU) L/L 5.53 7-4 16/16 99.1 119 69 61 29 58
Other Possible Utah Starting Pitchers
Name B/T ERA W-L G/GS IP H R ER BB KODoug Mackay R/R 6.54 4-8 17/15 85.1 101 74 62 49 77 Ben Buck R/R 5.65 6-4 33/9 86.0 126 68 54 25 47 Shad McCord R/R 7.32 3-1 21/6 59.0 76 56 48 26 41
Utah Update
Utah was swept at home last weekend by San Diego State. The Utes dropped a close first game 6-4 before losing the second and third games 7-1 and 18-2, respectively. On Thursday, sophomore Jason Price struck out five batters, giving him 97 strikeouts this season, a new school record. On Saturday, junior Matt Ciaramella drove in Utah's two runs on a pair of doubles, giving him 27 on the season, a new school record. Ciaramella now has 60 doubles on his career, which is tied for the Utah record.
Utah vs. Brigham Young
The Utes are 84-194-1 all-time vs. Brigham Young. Utah has lost 13 in a row vs. the Cougars, dating back to the 2002 season. The last time the Utes defeated BYU was May 11, 2002, an 11-6 victory in Salt Lake City. In MWC Championship games, Utah is 1-2 against the Cougars.
Scouting BYU (No. 4)
The Cougars (28-28, 18-2) swept a six-game series with Air Force last weekend and have won 14 of their last 19 games.
The Cougars are led this season by Jeff Hiestand with a .341 batting average, followed by Kory Knell at .338 and Ben Saylor with a .315 average. As a team, BYU has a league-low .284 batting average this year.
The BYU pitching staff, which boasts a 5.62 ERA, is led by Patrick Wells. He is 7-4 on the year with a 5.53 ERA. Bryce Burger has a team-low 3.20 ERA.
Scouting San Diego State (No. 1)
Everything went San Diego State's (33-27, 19-9) way on Saturday as its 18-2 win over Utah, coupled with New Mexico's win over UNLV, gave the Aztecs the 2004 MWC regular-season crown. The victory also made SDSU the No. 1 seed and means it receives a first-round bye.
The Aztecs are led at the plate by Brock Ungricht with a .368 batting average, 85 hits, 20 doubles and 44 runs. SDSU is out-hitting opponents .296 to .283.
The Aztec pitching staff has a combined ERA of 5.04 and is led by Ryan Schroyer, who boasts a team-low 2.84 ERA. Scott Shoemaker is 8-6 with a team-high 103.2 innings pitched.
Scouting New Mexico (No. 2)
After trailing 4-1 in the ninth inning, New Mexico (24-27-1, 20-10) scored four runs to defeat UNLV 5-4 and earn the No. 2 seed in the tournament. The Lobos defeated the Rebels 14-12 on Thursday, before falling 13-4 on Friday. New Mexico then took the series with the one-run win on Saturday.
The Lobos are led by Josh Mader, who is hitting .373 with 79 hits and 50 RBI. As a team, New Mexico boasts a .317 batting average, compared to the .305 of opponents.
The New Mexico pitching staff, which has a 6.52 combined ERA, is led by Joe Salas, who is 4-1 with a 3.98 ERA in 30 appearances.
Scouting Air Force (No. 6)
Air Force (5-47, 0-28) dropped its third-consecutive doubleheader in as many days and its 34th game in a row to get swept at BYU last weekend.
The Falcons, which are out-hit .398 to .286 on the year, are led by Karl Bolt with a .346 batting average.
On the mound, Air Force is paced by Clayton Couch with an 8.62 ERA. As a team, the Falcons have a 12.33 ERA.
Scouting UNLV (No. 3)
A four-run bottom of the ninth inning for New Mexico cost UNLV (33-22, 20-10) the regular season MWC crown and the top seed in the tournament as the Lobos defeated the Rebels 5-4 on Saturday in both teams' regular-season finale. The loss dropped UNLV into a tie for second place in the conference with New Mexico, but the Lobos earned the No. 2 seed by recording a 4-2 mark this year against the Rebels.
The Rebels boast the league's best offense with a .334 batting average. Eric Nielsen boasts a .414 batting average with 94 hits, 23 doubles, 15 home runs and 81 RBI.
As a team, UNLV has a combined ERA of 6.15, led by Jake Vose, who is 10-3 with a 4.53 ERA in 17 appearances.
Utah and the Mountain West Conference Championship
Utah is 4-8 all-time in MWC Championship games. This is the second year in a row that the Utes have been the No. 5 seed in the tournament.
2003 Recap - Utah fell 7-4 in its first-round game against San Diego State in the 2003 MWC Championship. The Utes then defeated Air Force 7-6 in 11 innings in the second day to remain alive. The following day, Utah lost a 7-6 heartbreaker to Brigham Young.
2002 Recap - The Utes entered the 2002 tournament with their highest-ever seed (No. 2) in the MWC Championship. After being up 9-1, Utah was defeated 13-9 in the first round by UNLV. The Utes went on to win their second-round game 9-8 over New Mexico before falling again at the hands of UNLV, 13-7.
2001 Recap - Utah finished third in the league standings in 2001. The No. 3 Utes lost their first tournament game to No. 4 New Mexico, 7-4. In the second round, Utah beat No. 1 BYU, 15-14. The Utes' tournament run ended with a 5-4 loss to No. 2 San Diego State.
2000 Recap - In 2000, the Utes finished fourth in the conference standings. No. 4 Utah opened the tournament with a loss to No. 3 BYU, 9-6. Next, the Utes defeated No. 1 New Mexico, 6-4. Utah ended the tournament with a 10-5 loss to No. 6 Air Force.
Record Watch
Earlier in the season, sophomore Jason Price set the single game record for strikeouts with 12 on March 4 at Southern Utah. Last Thursday, Price broke the single-season strikeout record of 94, set by Mitch Maio in the 2002 season. He now has 97 on the year. Price also has 16 starts this season, one away from tying the record of 17, set by Jared Cavaness in 2000.
Junior outfielder Matt Ciaramella set a new single-season doubles record last Saturday with 27, surpassing the previous record of 26 that was set by Brit Pannier in 2002. Ciaramella also tied the career record of 60, also held by Pannier.
In Utah's win over UNLV on May 15, junior reliever Clay Westmoreland broke the single season (9) and career (10) saves records.
Senior Ben Buck has the new single-season record for appearances with 32, surpassing the previous record of 28 set by Brandon Page in 1997.
Senior Eric Chevalier and junior Tyson Olson both have six triples on the year, one away from the single-season record of seven, held by Sam Swenson (2000).
Ranking Nationally
In NCAA statistics through May 16, Ute center fielder Matt Ciaramella ranks second in the nation in doubles per game with a 0.48 per game average. Senior Jared Pena is currently eighth in doubles with a 0.46 average. Junior Tyson Olson currently ranks 20th nationally in triples per game (0.14), while senior Eric Chevalier ranks 26th nationally in the same category with an average of 0.13.
Repeat Performers
Junior Matt Ciaramella leads a group of seven Utes with 10 or more multiple-hit games. He has 27 multiple-hit and 19 multiple-RBI games. Senior Jared Pena has 22 multiple-hit and 14 multiple-RBI games. Senior Eric Chevalier has 19 games with two or more hits and eight multiple-RBI games. Sophomore Ryan Khoury has 17 multi-hit and six multi-RBI games, while freshman Jay Brossman has 16 multiple-hit games and seven games with two or more RBI. Rounding out the group are senior Michael Westfall, Jr. and junior Tyson Olson. Westfall has 13 multi-hit games, while Olson has 12. Olson also has 11 games with two or more runs driven in.
2004 Ute Honors
MWC Player/Pitcher of the Week
Matt Ciaramella April 19-25 (player) Ben Buck April 5-11 (pitcher) Jared Pena March 1-7 (player)
Academic All-District
Matt Ciaramella First Team
Pronunciation Guide
Eric Chevalier Chev-a-leer Matt Ciaramella Seer-uh-mel-uh Tim Esmay Ez-may Ryan Khoury Kour-ee Doug Mackay Mack-ee Jared Pena Pen-ya Nate Schlieman Sh-lee-manOn Deck
The winner of the MWC Championship receives an automatic berth in the NCAA Regionals.
Players Mentioned
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