Completed Event: Baseball versus No. 11 seed Kansas State on May 19, 2026 , Loss , 5, to, 9
Final Score
Baseball
5
vs No. 11 seed Kansas State
9
The University of Utah Athletics
Utes Head For Arizona To Battle Wildcats
2/22/2001 12:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 22, 2001
SALT LAKE CITY -
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Looking at the Utes
The Utes head for Arizona winners of seven out of their last eight. During that stretch they swept a three-game series at UC-Riverside and won games against Missouri and 12th-ranked Nebraska.
Offensively they are led by Mike Westfall and Sam Swenson. Westfall is second on the team with a .413 batting average and leads the team with 21 hits. Swenson is hitting .347 with a team high five homers.
Brett Lindsey and Ryan Bailey lead the team with two wins on the year, and Matt McAfee has a team best 0.00 ERA. Seven Utes have an ERA below six. Travis Palmer leads the team with his 14 strike outs.
Scouting Arizona
Arizona comes into the series with the Utes on a six-game winning streak. Last weekend they swept a three-game series from Texas A&M. They scored 37 runs in the three games against the Aggies. During the winning streak they have outscored their opponents 66-22.
Offensively they are led by Shelly Duncan, Erik Torres and Ernie Durazo. Duncan is hitting .306 with seven homers and 21 RBI. Torres is hitting .403 and Durazo is at .400 with three homers.
On the hill the Wildcats have a team ERA of 5.57. Marc Kaiser leads the team with three wins. Sean Rierson leads all starters with his 4.33 ERA. Out of the bullpen, Daryl DeSalvo has three saves and a 3.00 ERA in seven appearances. Seven Arizona pitchers have an ERA below 5.00.
Statistical Breakdown
As of 2/18 UTES ArizonaRecord......... 7-6 ... 11-7Avg............ .293 .. .323Runs........... 100 ... 148Hits........... 140 ... 209Home Runs...... 19 .... 17ERA............ 6.06 .. 5.57Saves.......... 1 ..... 6SO............. 92 .... 138BB............. 68 .... 55
Last Weekend Rewind
The Utes went 2-1 at the Applebee's Baseball Fiesta. On Friday they lost to Kansas State 10-2. In that game Utah committed six errors and had only four hits.
Saturday the Utes upset 12th-ranked Nebraska 7-6. After falling behind 5-1 after two innings, the Utes rallied to take a 7-5 lead after six, then hung on for the win. In the ninth, Nebraska had the tying run on second with one out, but couldn't drive him in.
Sunday the Ute offense exploded for 12 runs off of Missouri pitching, scoring three runs in an inning three times. After watching a 4-0 lead turn into a 7-5 deficit, the Utes came back to win the game 12-9. A sixth inning homer by Nate Weese was the big blow that put the game out of reach.
Utah Tidbits
The Utes have scored in the first inning in nine games this season. In all seven of their wins they have crossed the plate in the first inning. On the season, Utah has outscored its opponent 23-17 in the first frame.
Sam Swenson leads the team with his five home runs. He has hit at least one home run in every series this season except the Pacific series. He currently leads the team in slugging percentage (.776) triples (2) and total bases (38).
Mike Westfall is second on the team with his .412 batting average. He has a hit in 11 of 13 games this season, and is tied for the team lead with his five multiple hit games. He also has four multiple RBI games.
Matt McAfee recorded the first save this season for the Utes on Saturday. McAfee leads the Utes with his 0.00 ERA. In four appearances he has allowed one run (zero earned) and one hit in 5.2 innings pitched. He has five strike outs and two walks.
Head Coach Tim Esmay
Tim Esmay enters his fifth season as Utah's head baseball coach, and is looking to break new ground in the Mountain West Conference. The MWC is scaling back to the original building blocks of the Western Athletic Conference, giving the Utes a chance to reestablish themselves as a dominant conference foe. Esmay enters the season with a 107-112-1 overall record and a 57-61 career conference mark.
The Scottsdale, Ariz., native started his coaching career as a graduate student at Arizona State. He stayed at ASU for five years as an assistant coach under Jim Brock and Jeff Pentland.
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