USU club baseball sweeps road trip
The Utah State baseball club improved its record to 11-4 and boosted its winning streak to seven games as USU won all four of its games over the weekend.
Utah State defeated the University of Northern Colorado Bears 10-0 and 12-2 in their doubleheader match-up Saturday.
Marking the first time these two teams have met, the Aggies did exactly what they wanted to do, start off the weekend trip with a win in the first game.
“We jumped on them right away and won 10-0,” Aggie Head Coach Ernie Rivers said.
Pitcher Tommy Poppleton threw the entire game until it was called after five innings. In his five innings of work, Poppleton gave up three hits and one walk while striking out five.
In the second game, the game was called after five innings as well when Utah State got up by ten runs.
Starting pitcher Mike Farr threw all five innings, giving up one earned run and three hits.
The Aggies continued their dominating performances by beating the University of Colorado Buffaloes 11-5 and 9-4 Sunday.
Pitcher Andy Smith threw a complete game in the 11-5 win. Smith pitched seven innings giving up eight hits, walking two batters and striking out six. T
he Aggies scored in every inning but the second.
“We only took five pitchers,” Rivers said. “We have a lot of confidence in our pitchers this year. [Smith] gave me no reason to take him out.” Tragedy also struck the Aggies in the first game of the Colorado doubleheader as outfielder Justin Johnson believes he tore his hamstring as he was rounding second base in the first inning.
The severity of the injury is still not known.
The other two pitchers were used in the Aggies final win of the weekend.
XXX Bradley made his first career start, giving up three earned runs in three innings with five strikeouts. Ty Bishop closed out the game allowing no runs.
The Aggies built up a 5-0 lead in the first and took advantage of Colorado’s seven errors.
“I thought we played better than them,” Rivers said. “Our guys just hit the ball real well,” Rivers said. Providing the spark for the offense this weekend was outfielder Jared Shepard. Shepard went 8-11 with five doubles, a triple and seven stolen bases. “He hit the ball extremely well, better than I’ve ever seen him,” Rivers said. “He just tore it up.” The Aggies will need all of the offensive firepower they can get this weekend as arch-rival Weber State University comes into town for a nine inning game on Friday at 4 p.m. Earlier this fall, Utah State and Weber State played three games with the Wildcats winning two of the three games. “I would like to go out and put a lot of runs on the board and shut them down,” Rivers said. “Our main goal is to make a statement for the spring. We’re here and we’re not going away.” Montana State is also coming into town for three games this weekend, beginning with a double header starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday and one final game at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Last season, the Aggies faced off against Montana State in a three game series and swept them. Since then, Montana State has made some personnel changes and had a lot more player’s tryout for their club team this season. “I expect to see a pretty descent team coming down compared to last year,” Rivers said.