Club baseball takes on three from Weber State
It took the Utah State baseball club two games to warm up Saturday before posting its first win in a tripleheader over the weekend.
After a 16-4 defeat to Weber State University in the first game in Lindquist Field in Ogden, head coach Ernie Rivers said his team usually does better in the second game. The Aggies were defeated again in the second game, 7-3, but bounced back yesterday to post a 7-4 victory over the Wildcats.
Down 4-3 going into the sixth inning Sunday, USU made it happen. Designated hitter Brett Thompson and third baseman Jason Clark started off the inning with singles, then left fielder Justin Creech hit a single that scored Thompson. Brady Broderick came up to the plate next and hit a double that sent both Clark and Creech home. Aggie Rob Munns hit a double, and Broderick scored the final run of the inning.
Broderick was USU’s hot hitter Sunday, going 3-for-4 with one double and two singles. Aggie pitcher Christian Barney pitched four innings, giving up three earned runs and five hits, while striking out two. Sean Morrisey pitched the last three innings and got the win, giving up one earned run, four hits and two walks.
Rivers said the team played to its potential Sunday and was especially impressed by Morrisey’s pitching.
“He came in and shut them down,” Rivers said of Morrisey. “He felt really good, and he looked really sharp on the mound.”
USU got off to a quick start in the second contest Saturday. Thompson hit a two-out single that batted in Rich Hansen and Mark Larsen in the top of the first, giving the Aggies an early 2-0 lead. A 1-2-3 second gave way to a one-run third when Morrisey was hit in by a Cache Decker two-out single.
The Aggies couldn’t score the rest of the night and WSU took control. The Wildcats scored three in both the third and fourth innings, then again in the fifth to close out the victory.
Rivers said during the second contest his squad started to realize it wasn’t going to be an easy game and didn’t get hits when it needed them.
In the first game, USU was down 9-0 after the fifth inning but made a little run in the top of the sixth. Mike Sasser started it off by making it home on a Decker single with only one out. Third baseman Clark capped off the scoring in the sixth by connecting for a 3-run homer that sent him and teammates Larsen and Decker around the bases.
An error and the inability to keep the few hits in the infield doomed the Aggies in the bottom of the sixth as the Wildcats hit in seven runs in the inning and the game was called because of the 10-run rule.
Rivers said the Aggies are capable of playing as well as they did in the top of the sixth all the time, but suffered a little bit from a lack of confidence.
USU will host its first home games this weekend.