Utes Drop Season Opener to UC Davis, 4-1

Friday, February 19

Davis, Calif.

2:00 PM

University of Utah

0-1

UC Davis

1-0

Utah

UC Davis

2/19/2010 12:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 19, 2010

Box Score

DAVIS, Calif. - The Utah baseball team dropped its season opener to UC Davis on Friday, 4-1. Nik Gumeson and Michael Beltran each had a hit for the Utes in the loss.

Utah got on the board first in the second inning. Gumeson, making his Utah debut, led off the inning with a single to center field. He stole second base and advanced to third on Devin Walker's fly out to right field. Gumeson scored when Rick Cornu also flied out.

UC Davis came back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 1-1 on David Popkins' RBI double to score Kyle Mihaylo, who singled to reach base and moved to second on an error.

Popkins would put the Aggies in the lead in the fourth inning with a two-run home run. UC Davis added an insurance run in the sixth inning on an RBI double from Paul Politi.

Beltran tried to get something going in the top of the ninth for the Utes with a two-out double to right center. He would advance to third on a wild pitch but was stranded on base.

Jordan Whatcott, who pitched 5.2 innings and had two strikeouts, allowed four runs on seven hits to earn the loss. Bryn Card pitched the final 2.1 innings and had three strikeouts, giving up just one hit.

Dayne Quist pitched a complete game on the mound for UC Davis.

"We didn't adjust at the plate during the ballgame," head coach Bill Kinneberg said. "We came out and hit some balls hard in the first two innings, then the pitcher adjusted and changed his strategy and we didn't do that. He did a nice job keeping us off balance.

"Jordan made two mistakes - the home run ball was a bad pitch and he gave up a 0-2 count double with two outs. Bryn pitched very well. They both kept us in the ballgame, we just didn't get things going."

The two teams are back in action on Saturday. Although they were scheduled to play a single game, the teams will play a doubleheader beginning at 11:00 a.m. due to inclement weather scheduled to move into the area on Sunday.