Utah Baseball Wins Opener Against Sacramento State 6-4

The Utah baseball team opened up their 2015 season with a 6-4 victory in the first of a four-game series on the road at Sacramento State. Pitcher Bret Helton picked up the win atop the mound for six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. Dylan Drachler replaced Helton and pitched 2 2/3 innings, and Dalton Carroll pitched part of the ninth inning to earn the save.

Sacramento State had the lead for the majority of the game, and took a 3-2 lead going into the seventh inning. The Utes took the lead with a four hits in the inning, including a Sacrifice fly by Dallas Carroll. Carroll was 3 for 3 and had two RBI's. An impressible outing for the third baseman coming of a season ending injury last season. Utah finished the inning on top 5-3.

The Utes was able to maintain their two point lead, and finished off the Hornets 6-4. "Our pitching and defense were pretty solid, and it was a good sixth inning for us," Utah head coach Bill Kinneberg said. "Drachler really did a nice job once we got the lead to keep them at bay. Defensively we had one error, but Dallas made some stabbing plays at third base. We were solid on defense. We capitalized on the offensive side when the opportunities were there, and being hit by pitches three times in one inning helped us get four runs. We had solid at bats and stole some bases. Our run game was very good. We only had four strikeouts, and usually in the first few games we have a lot of strikeouts, and that wasn't the case today. We battled at the plate, and that was a real positive for us. There were a lot of things that went well today."

The same two teams play their second of four games Saturday at 2:00 PM MST.