Aggies throttle Wolverines at home
If Saturday’s doubleheader went much longer at Providence Field, the Utah State baseball club was going to have troubles with the weather.
So although the Aggies couldn’t control Mother Nature, they instead defeated Utah Valley thoroughly and quickly enough to get two wins before the rain hit.
“Luckily we were able to finish out that last inning before it started raining pretty hard,” pitcher Payton Davis said. “It’s never good to play in cold weather. It’s hard on the hands with the bats and everything.”
Neither game went the distance as the 10-run mercy rule allowed both games to be called after the fifth inning. Right fielder Garrett Wallace said the team is feeling confident with where they’re at right now.
“The team’s really making improvements every day,” Wallace said. “Pitchers are finally feeling more comfortable on the mound, hitters are hitting the pitches they need, not swinging at bad pitches and fielding’s really smooth. We work together really well, so it makes us more comfortable out there too.”
Friday night’s game was canceled due to an insufficient number of Wolverine players able to make the trip. Those who came on Saturday met a Utah State blizzard of dominant pitching and hitting.
“It’s a good win,” Davis said. “It’s good to come off this last week playing against CEU and come and get another win in conference play.”
Davis said consistency with the bats was much more important than big hits on the cold and windy day.
“We swung the bat really good today, lot of hard hits hit where it needed to be,” he said. “Everybody wasn’t swinging for the fence, but the ball dropped and we were able to run the bases.”
Wallace said this performance is indicative of what the team expects of themselves the rest of the year.
“I feel like our team’s really come together this last part of the year,” he said. “Minor adjustments are being made every game, and I feel like now we’re getting ready to try and win another championship.”
Utah State 16, UVU 0
Pitchers Jaren Tyler and Tim Morrissey combined to give up three hits in the shutout and didn’t give the Wolverines any chance to come back against the powerful Aggie bats. Robert Garrett, Brandon Peterson and Gavin Johnson each had three RBIs, with Johnson’s coming on a fourth inning home run.
“When we settle down and just stay through the zone and we don’t try and do too much with the ball, that’s when good things happen,” Wallace said. “That’s why we finally came through.”
Ten of the fifteen Aggie batters who came to the plate scored a run, starting with a five-run first inning and coming to a climax with eight runs in the third.
Utah State 11, UVU 1
After the wind carried a pop fly out of the yard for UVU’s first batter, pitcher Robert Garrett quieted the Wolverines down and allowed the Aggie attack enough time to come back strong.
“I think it took a little longer, just because we were popping out, just missing it a little bit, and that can happen,” Wallace said.
Utah State scored one run each of the first three innings before taking control with eight runs in the bottom of the fourth. Eight of the nine Aggie batters had RBIs, which allowed them to take a ten run lead, finish the game in five innings based on the mercy rule, and walk off the field seconds before the rain came.
“Just wanted to get in and shut them down so we could get away with a 10 run rule,” said Davis, who pitched the final inning. “Just come in the last inning and get work done.”
Due to a scheduling conflict in Salt Lake City, the Aggies will have one final home game for the season this Friday at Providence Field against the University of Utah. The series will conclude in Salt Lake City on Saturday.
– m.hop@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter:@legendarymhops