Baseball Clips Thunderbirds

Tuesday, April 22

Franklin Covey Field

6:00 PM

University of Utah

14-20

Southern Utah

21-16

Southern Utah

University of Utah

4/22/2008 12:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 22, 2008

Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY - The University of Utah baseball team overcame a slow start to rally for the 9-6 win over Southern Utah here at Franklin Covey Field this evening. The win snaps a six-game losing streak for the Utes, upping their mark to 14-20 for the year.

A two-run home run and a sac fly in the top of the first allowed the Thunderbirds (21-16) to race out to the 3-0 lead. But, the Utes rallied to take control of the game. They scored four runs in the second and two each in the third and fourth, never looking back.

"Anytime you can get a Tuesday win and you don't blow up your bullpen, that's a plus," said head coach Bill Kinneberg. "I thought we swung the bats a lot better tonight, and I think we did a better job of executing our offense in the middle innings. I felt we had one bad inning, defensively, late in the ball game. But, we only gave up two runs and we were able to get out of it."

The Utes out-slugged their opponents tonight, 14-8. Corey Shimada's solo homer capped a four-run second inning which got the ball rolling for Utah. Jesse Shriner also broke out of a hitting slump with a two-run homer in the fourth, giving the home team the insurance it needed to keep Southern Utah at bay.

Austin Jones and Cooper Blanc led the Utes with 3-for-4 outings at the plate. Both Michael Beltran and Shimada were 2-for-3 on the day, but Shimada was an offensive force in scoring three runs and plating one RBI. Both of Shimada's hits went for extra bases, tallying a double in addition to his homer. Shriner was 1-for-5 with two RBI and Devin Walker, who went 0-for-3, also had a pair of RBI.

Andrew Wilding got the nod on the mound this evening, and earns the win in tossing five innings of five-hit ball. He allowed four runs (three earned), and he walked two and struck out four. Robert Chimpky came on in the ninth inning to preserve the win. He tallied his fourth save on the year.

"It's big that Andrew Wilding threw for five innings tonight, getting the win," said Kinneberg. "I thought all of our pitchers threw well today. We only gave up three earned runs, but we need to start playing better defense behind our pitchers."

The Utes found themselves in a three-run hole early, but they rallied to take the lead in the second, scoring four runs. They would never relinquish the lead. It was a costly fielding error that allowed Utah to start chiseling at SUU's lead. With runners on the corners, the pitcher tried to pick off the runner at first, but he threw the ball away. It allowed Jones to score and Blanc to advance to second. Beltran bunted for a single, and stole second, putting runners on second and third. Back-to-back ground-outs to the shortstop allowed Utah to plate two more runs, and Shimada finished it off with his solo homer. Utah led, 4-3 after two frames. A suicide squeeze by Blanc and sac fly by Walker, both in the third, pushed Utah's lead up to 6-3, and Shriner's two-run shot in the fourth raced the team's lead out to 8-3.

SUU scored three-straight runs, one in the fifth and two in the seventh, to trim the Utah lead to 8-6. But, Utah got an insurance run in the eighth.

The T-Birds' starting pitcher, Kyle Hamman, got the loss on the afternoon. Two SUU batters had a pair of hits today, led by the 2-for-3, one-RBI night of Ray Wright.

The Utes will bring college baseball to Ogden, Utah, this weekend when it plays a three-game series against UNLV at Lindquist Field. First pitch on Friday and Saturday is at 6 p.m., and game time on Sunday is set for 1 p.m.