Club baseball’s fall season exceeds expectations
After its best season in the program’s short history, the Utah State baseball club raised expectations for the upcoming season by recording a 15-4 fall record and an 11-game winning streak.
“We basically dominated the fall season,” said pitcher Sean Maynard. “We could’ve easily gone undefeated, so it looks like we should have a good spring.”
While the fall is the equivalent to Major League Baseball’s spring training, it is still a good indicator of what a team is capable of doing.
As a team, the Aggies shattered expectations by hitting for a .430 average and recording a 2.59 ERA.
“We blew our expectations out of the water,” said Aggie Head Coach Ernie Rivers. “We performed higher than expected.”
Rivers said the team goals for the Aggies this fall were to bat .350 as a team and keep the pitchers’ ERA under five, a feat not easily
accomplished.
“We will keep the same goals going into the spring,” Rivers said. “What we did this fall I don’t think is very
common.”
The biggest surprise had to be the pitching.
Going into the fall, no one was sure the pitching would be able to keep the offense within striking distance but after looking at the stats, the pitchers were up to the task.
“The overall pitching opened some eyes because of its depth and stability,” Maynard said. “The pitchers really threw the ball consistently for strikes.”
During the fall, the Aggies were able to outscore their opponents 214-92 in 19 games with two shutouts.
These big numbers have already translated into bigger expectations for the outcome of the spring.
“Anything short of nationals will be a disappointment and anything short of doing well at nationals will be a disappointment,” Rivers said.
Things will change for the Aggies this spring as both the University of Idaho and Eastern Washington University will join the Western Mountain Conference raising the number of teams to five. Next year, the University of Montana and Montana State University will also join the conference.
With the changes, conference games will become more meaningful because Utah State will play each team three times instead of six.
Utah State will begin the spring season the first week of March at a tournament in Central Oregon, followed by two more tournament appearances, all three of which Rivers said he thinks the Aggies can win.
After the tournaments, the Aggies will open conference play and see if the fall season really is an indicator for the spring.
For now though, the Aggies will have to settle with lifting weights as baseball has gone into hibernation for the winter.
The team is still looking for experienced players for the spring. Tryouts and team information can be found by e-mailing the team at baseball@cc.usu.edu.
-jwhigg@cc.usu.edu