USU baseball picks up four straight wins in Nevada
The Utah State baseball team went 4-0 this weekend in Mesquite, Nevada. The Aggies beat Oregon, the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Wyoming, before picking up their final win of the weekend against the University of Montana.
With this weekend in the books, the Aggies move to .500 on the season with a record of 4-4.
“We played very, very well,” Utah State head coach Norm Doyle said. “We had excellent pitching (and) our hitting was good.”
USU 9, Oregon 7
Oregon got up early in the first matchup of the tournament for the Aggies, scoring three runs in the first inning. The Aggies managed to whittle the Ducks’ lead to one in the fourth and then added a huge scoring run in the fifth, knocking in six runs.
The Ducks scored three more times, but the Aggies’ advantage was enough to pick up the win.
USU 14, UC Santa Cruz 2
The Aggies struck first, scoring three runs in the first inning, and buffered their lead, scoring four runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.
UC Santa Cruz added a run in the second and then another run in the fourth but couldn’t hold off the Aggies, as they picked up their second win of the weekend.
Jake Bartholomew had four RBIs in the game and hit for two doubles. He currently has a .524 batting average.
“For the weekend, Jake was head and shoulders above everyone,” Doyle said. “He was hitting the ball all weekend long.”
Utah State 5, Wyoming 3
In a back-and-forth game the Aggies came out on top, defeating the Cowboys 5-3. Wyoming is ranked No. 2 in the nation in Division II.
The Aggies led 2-1 after three innings of play before opening up a 4-1 lead in the fourth, scoring 2 runs. Wyoming scored two runs in the seventh, but Utah State’s pitching staff held
off the Cowboys’ offense.
“Our pitcher, Kyle Durrant, was outstandingly dominant,” Doyle said. “He kept them off balance all game long.”
Utah State 4, Montana 3
In a deadlock at zeros through two and a half innings, the Aggies finally found some offense, in the bottom of the third, scoring a run. Montana added two in the top of the fourth to take the lead before the Aggies added another one to tie it up at 2-2.
“Montana is a team that we are very familiar with,” Doyle said. “They historically have had a quality team, and I knew they would be good again this year.”
In the top of the seventh Montana took the lead again, but the Aggies weren’t finished. They scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh. The walk-off hit came from the bat of Brady Zimmerman.
– meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu