Baseball team wins two of three vs. Broncos
USU third baseman Justin Vaneck goes 4-for-5 with six RBIs and five runs to blast past Boise State for a 27-5 victory Sunday afternoon in the final game of the three-game weekend series.
Gavin Johnson, in the Saturday afternoon game, went 1-for-3 with a double and four RBIs, while Nolan Billings went 2-for-3 from the plate with one double and two RBIs in the evening game of the double header.
USU started off strong in the afternoon game against the Broncos, but fell 9-12 because of a collapse in the fourth and fifth inning from the Aggies’ defense changed its lead from 2-1 to 6-10. Jesse Kunz, Aggie starting pitcher, went five and one-third innings and gave up 12 runs on nine hits; however, only three of the 12 runs were earned. USU committed seven errors in the game while Boise State only committed one.
“We pretty much gave them the game,” USU first baseman Ryan Doyle said. “After that first game, we had to put that behind us and play baseball like we know we can play baseball.”
In the evening game, the Aggies came out with a little bit of revenge as they started the first inning by scoring five runs and playing solid defense all the way to a 7-4 victory. USU overcame a defensively sloppy game in the afternoon to come back in the evening game and not commit a single error. Zack Gunn pitched six and two-third innings and allowed four runs on six hits.
“The second game we played pretty well, but we still didn’t hit as well as we could,” Doyle said, “but the third game we scored a bunch of runs and beat them 27-5. It was nice to get two out of three but it was a little bit disappointing. We should have swept the series.”
The Aggies were determined to let Boise State know that it was lucky to come out with that first win on Saturday.
“We knew we were better than them, and we let that one slip away,” Doyle said. “So in the third game we scored 13 runs in the first inning and that put them away from there.”
After Sunday’s game, the Aggies felt like they had sent a pretty clear message to the Broncos.
“We beat them 27-5. That is the most runs I’ve ever seen scored in a baseball game,” Doyle said.
USU takes on Idaho State next week at Providence Field for one game on Friday and another doubleheader on Saturday.
– steve.clark@aggiemail.usu.edu