Since we're officially done with spring ball and exhausted every aspect of the basketball coaching change, I thought it appropriate to move on to baseball.
The Utes are actually having a pretty decent and surprising season. Picked to finish sixth (out of seven) in the 2011 preseason Mountain West poll, Utah currently sits at second in the conference - three games ahead of third place BYU.
It's unlikely the Utes can catch TCU, who lead the conference with a record of 13-2 (Utah is 9-4), but in its final Mountain West season, Utah is certainly putting forth one of their better seasons in recent history.
Though they lost to BYU in an official non-conference contest back on Tuesday, the Utes rebounded nicely on the road against what has traditionally been a strong Tulane program. They defeated the Green Wave in the first game of the series 7-1, lost in a comeback effort in the second game 7-6 and officially took the series with a 8-1 victory on Saturday.
In that victory, Brock Duke pitched a perfect game through four innings and allowed only five hits and one run in seven innings of play.
C.J. Cron hit a two-run home run in the third to put Utah up 3-0 and they really never looked back - pushing the lead to 6-0 on three more runs into the fourth.
The Utes will play at Utah Valley this Tuesday. Utah split the first two meets between the Wolverines - defeating them 13-5 in Salt Lake City back in March and losing 12-4 down in Orem earlier this month.
Utah reenters conference play against the Air Force Falcons on Friday.
Box score after the jump...
Utah Baseball
Utah at Tulane
Apr 23, 2011 at New Orleans, La. (Greer Fld/Turchin St)
Utah 8 (18-15) |
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| Player | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | so | po | a | lob | |
| Brooks, James ss | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| Beltran, Michael 2b | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Cron, C.J. 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cooper, Shaun lf | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| Shackelford, Austin rf | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Guymon, Cody c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nielsen, Trey 3b | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| Alexander, Josh dh | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Green, Gavin cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Relf, Tyler ph/cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Duke, Brock p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Streich, Stephen p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 36 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 27 | 11 | 5 | |
Tulane 1 (23-17) |
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| Player | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | so | po | a | lob | |
| Nick Boullosa cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Blake Crohan c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 3 | |
| Jeremy Schaffer dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Frank Florio lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Brandon Boudreaux rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Matt Ryan 1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 0 | |
| Nick Schneeberger ph/1b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Garrett Cannizaro ss | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Brennan Middleton 2b/3b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Quinn Pippin 3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | |
| Briggs Barrios ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bowen Woodson 2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Alex Byo p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| David Napoli p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 34 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 27 | 12 | 8 | |
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Utah................ 012 301 001 - 8 9 1 Tulane.............. 000 000 100 - 1 6 3 ------------------------------------------- |
| E - BELTRAN(9); RYAN, M(2); MIDDLETON(6); BYO(1). DP - Green Wave 1. LOB - Utes 5; Green Wave 8. 2B - BROOKS 2(13); COOPER(10); NIELSEN(10); CROHAN(8); CANNIZARO, G(7); MIDDLETON(4). 3B - BOUDREAUX, B(1). HR - CRON(9); NIELSEN(5). SH - ALEXANDER(3). SB - BROOKS(10). |
| Utah | ip | h | r | er | bb | so | wp | bk | hbp | ibb | ab | bf | fo | go | np |
| Duke, Brock W,5-0 | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 29 | 9 | 8 | 99 |
| Streich, Stephen | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 29 |
| Tulane | ip | h | r | er | bb | so | wp | bk | hbp | ibb | ab | bf | fo | go | np |
| Alex Byo L,1-1 | 6.0 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 26 | 4 | 10 | 75 |
| David Napoli | 3.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 64 |
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Win - DUKE (5-0). Loss - BYO (1-1). Save - None. BK - NAPOLI(1). Pitches/strikes: DUKE 99/59; STREICH 29/20; BYO 75/51; NAPOLI 64/43.
Umpires - HP: Nelson Graham 1B: Chris Symons 3B: Shane Rigdon |