USU sweeps ISU, wins conference
The Utah State baseball team clinched the conference title after sweeping Idaho State in three home games Friday and Saturday.
“Step one was accomplished: winning conference,” said Aggie head coach Brad Singer. “Step two is: ‘Win Montana.’”
The team will play in the regional tournament in Missoula, Montana beginning May 7. The winner of the regional tournament will advance to the World Series in Paducah, Kentucky on May 22.
“What’s on our mind now is those games in Montana,” said pitcher Colton Draney, who pitched all seven innings in the second game against ISU with nine strike outs and only one run allowed.
The Aggies won the first game 13-3 but had much closer scores in the other two games, winning 3-1 and 2-0, respectively.
“Our offense was a little stagnant,” Singer said. “It seemed like we’d go two innings and we’d have a slew of hits, and then we’d stop and kind of get stagnant and complacent.”
The final game of the series swung on two key plays by reserve outfielder Brandon Campbell.
With the score tied at zero in the bottom of the fourth inning, Campbell singled to right field and then advanced to second after a pitch in the dirt went past the catcher. An errant throw towards second base allowed Campbell to score.
Two innings later Campbell scored an inside-the-park home run after the center fielder was unable to control a deep fly ball.
“At first, I thought he caught it, so I was taking a bit of a wide turn around first,” Campbell said. “Then I saw him (Singer) standing (near third base), and I was like, ‘I’m going to go as hard as I can until he puts up a sign.’”
Singer was impressed with Campbell’s performance.
“Brandon’s one of our guys that will come off the bench and give us a spark,” Singer said.
The sweep extended the team’s winning streak to 18 games.
Outfielder Alex Munns batted 4-7 in the series with two runs, two RBIs and one walk. Infielder Taylor Stauffer was 5-7 with one run and four RBIs. Sixto Cabrera pitched a complete game with five strike outs.
— thomas.sorenson@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @tomcat340