Baseball club heads east to Colorado
After having its games against the University of Wyoming canceled a week ago, the Utah State University baseball club is ready to hit the road and get back on the field.
The Aggies will play a doubleheader against the University of Northern Colorado Saturday, and will play another doubleheader Sunday against the University of Colorado.
Originally, the road trip was planned as a four-game series against Colorado, but Northern Colorado called and asked to play the Aggies on Saturday, said USU Head Coach Ernie Rivers.
“We welcome changes, and it’ll be nice to see another team,” he said.
Club president and center fielder Jonathan Swenson said, “It’s just exciting to play new people, and see a new look.”
This will be the first time in team history the Aggies will face Northern Colorado, and only the second time they have faced the Buffaloes. The first set of games against Colorado was two weekends ago – the last time USU played.
Both Northern Colorado and Colorado are in the Rocky Mountain conference of the National Club Baseball Association, and this year is the first the Aggies have played teams from this conference.
“I am not expecting anything different than what we’ve seen,” Rivers said.
Against Colorado, Utah State won the last three games of the four-game series, outscoring the Buffaloes 49-14. The second game of the series got the Aggies going, as they outscored Colorado 22-0, including a 16-run second inning.
“The first game of every series this year we’ve been pretty tentative,” Rivers said. “We need to be focused and jump on them early.”
Currently, with a record of 7-4 this fall, the Aggies are hoping to sweep Colorado. During its previous series against the Buffaloes, the Aggie offense hit .480 as a team, and increased their stolen-base total to 38 for the season. Last spring, USU recorded 50 stolen bases in 30 games.
“We need to just keep it going and pound the ball around the park,” Swenson said.
USU normally has a schedule filled mainly with conference rivals Weber State University and Boise State University, and then other openings are filled with junior colleges. However, Rivers said his team can support its league by making room on its schedule for other NCBA teams.
He said he feels this is the Aggies’ way of supporting the league and showing their loyalty to the teams that have joined it.
Although it has been a couple of weeks since the Aggies have played, having last weekend off was not completely bad, Rivers said.
“We like to play every weekend,” he said. “[But] in retrospect, having the weekend off benefited us recovering.”
-jwhigg@cc.usu.edu