Baseball team back for more
At the end of last year’s season, the Utah State club baseball team went into the final weekend needing one win to clinch a super regional tournament spot.
Their four games against Weber State started off with a hard-fought game, but in the ninth, the Aggies came up just short on a base-running error. After the loss, coach Brent Al-Imari said the Ags basically laid down for the next three games.
“It was disappointing because the team played so hard and lost the first game and then choked,” he said.
Weber State only needed to win one of the four games to clinch its wildcard spot, but with the four losses, the Aggies dropped out of contention for the super regionals and didn’t get a chance to play for the national championship.
For the year, the Aggies played well with three of their players receiving All-American awards. Ryan Jessop, who will pitch for UVSC this season, was selected as a second team All-American. Gil Hollingsworth, the Aggie catcher, will return this year after being selected as a third-team All-American. Justin Johnson, who led the nation in doubles, was also selected as a second team All-American.
Third baseman Ryan Palmer should have been an All-American, Al-Imari said. The three players that were selected for the All-American team didn’t play more than 15 games last season while Palmer played almost 30.
During the spring season, the Aggies had a team batting average of .406 and scored 12 runs a game. Al-Imari said this year’s team should be able to score as many or more runs each time out.
The outfield should be taken care of with Blake Butterfield slated to play in center field. Butterfield played at the College of Eastern Utah last season. Tyler Al-Imari has to settle some academic discrepancies, but he could join Butterfield in the outfield. Al-Imari was the centerfielder for the Aggies last year.
Another big addition for the Aggies is a local product. Zac Snow played for the Smithfield Blue Sox this summer and is sticking around to play for the Aggies this season. Last year, Snow played at Bellevue, which the alma mater of the Aggies’ head coach.
Snow and Palmer might be the corners on the infield with Snow at first and Palmer at third. Al-Imari said second base is the question mark going into the season, but he said he may switch Palmer to second and use another new player at third.
Greg Ladd also returns as the Aggies ace pitcher and the most likely player to end up in the minors according to Al-Imari. Ladd had an era under one in the games he pitched last fall.
Part of the meltdown of last season could have been attributed to a lack of games, since the Aggies had to cancel 28 games because of the snow that arrived early and stayed late last fall and spring.
To get around the winter weather in Logan, the Aggies will take two road trips in September to Wyoming and Montana. All through October, the Aggies will have a home stand.
After that, the Aggies will take their winter hiatus.
When spring starts up, the Aggies will take more road trips than they did last year since they will play junior colleges in New Mexico and Arizona to take advantage of the warmer climate and get more games in during the spring.
The Aggies will go on the road to Pocatello, Idaho to face Idaho State this weekend.
-krn@cc.usu.edu