After being the Pac-12 baseball doormat, the Utah Utes accomplished the impossible: a worst-to-first journey in one of the top baseball conferences in the nation.
SALT LAKE CITY—After being the Pac-12 baseball doormat, the Utah Utes accomplished the impossible: a worst-to-first journey in one of the top baseball conferences in the nation. The Utes decimated the winner-take-all season finale against the Washington Huskies, 21-7.
Heading into the final series of the season, the unlikely conference-leading Utes (25-27, 19-11 Pac-12), needed to win one of three games to clinch a share of the Pac-12 title, but needed two wins for an outright title, as Washington (32-21, 17-13 Pac-12) held the tiebreaker over Utah.
The Utes dropped the opener, 5-4, on Friday, but came from behind for a 12-8 victory on Saturday. Today, Utah came to play. The offense lit up for 16 hits, leading to the 21 runs on the scoreboard. Four times, the Utes scored five runs in an inning.
Sophomore starting pitcher Josh Lapiana earned the win for the Utes, and received a standing ovation when he was pulled in the top of the 8th inning. He finished the game with 7.1 IP, 5 ER, 1 BB, and 5 Ks. He said the dream felt like a dream come true. “How could it not? We finished last in the Pac-12 last year. To win it this year, I mean, come on. That doesn’t happen in a conference like this. It’s awesome.”
After a perfect 1-2-3 top of the first for Utah, the Utes brought five in for a score in the home half. DaShawn Keirsey led off with a single, and eventually scored on a wild pitch from third. After loading the bases, Washington starter Ryan Schmitten gave up a bases-loaded double off the top of the right-center wall to Josh Rose to make it 4-0 Utah. Utah catcher AJ Young then singled in Rose to make it 5-0, forcing the Huskies to make a pitching change just two outs into the inning.
The Utes put up another five-spot in the third inning. After an intentional walk of Josh Rose to load the bases, Young brought in two runs with a single. The merry-go-round continued with a UW error and a Cody Scaggari single to make it 10-1.
Another storm of runs came in the 7th inning when Utah burned through Washington’s fourth and fifth pitchers. Four times the bases were loaded and Utah capitalized for five more runs, furthering the cushion.
In the 8th, the Huskies pitching could not get batters out, issuing walks and hits left and right, exhausting their bullpen. Washington fielded eight pitchers total, with all but two giving up at least two runs.
The freshman Keirsey had four hits, bringing in two runs. Rose led the way with 4 RBI, while Young and Davis had 3 RBI each.
The Utes now await the NCAA Tournament bid coming up Monday.
Utah head coach Bill Kinneberg Postgame:
Dallas and Dalton Carroll Postgame:
Josh Lapiana Postgame:
Final Call:
