Utah Baseball Faces BYU This Weekend In Provo

April 17, 2001

Utah at Brigham Young April 19-21 * Larry H. Miller Field * Provo, Utah

Probable Pitching Match-UpsThurday, 6:00 p.m. - Travis Palmer (4-3, 4.54) vs. Nate Fernley (11-1, 3.00)Friday, 6:00 p.m. - Jason Wylie (2-1, 4.78) vs. Jeff Stearman (1-4, 6.35)Saturday, 12:30 p.m. - David Ebright (2-1, 6-16) vs. Jeff Stone (3-3, 6.08)
Probable Utah Line-UpPos. Name             B-T   Yr. Hometown (Previous School)C    24 - Donald Hawes     R-R   Jr. Tremonton, Utah (Bear River HS)1B   14 - Nate Weese     L-R   Jr. Bountiful, Utah (Bountiful HS)2B    1 - Adam Castleton  R-R  Jr. Midvale, Utah (Hillcrest HS)SS    8 - Tommy Maestas   R-R   Sr. Albuquerque, N.M. (Trinidad State)3B    6 - Mike Westfall   R-R   Fr. Scottsdaelk, Ariz. (Horizon HS)LF    2 - Donnie Saba   L-R   So. Sandy, Utah (Brighton HS)CF   21 - Sam Swenson   R-R   Sr. South Jordan, Utah (Bingham HS)RF   23 - Brit Pannier     L-L   Jr. Salt Lake City (Salt Lake CC)DH   26 - Chris Shelton   R-R   Jr. Salt Lake City (Salt Lake CC)

This Week

Utah (19-20, 8-10 MWC) faces Brigham Young (24-14, 13-5 MWC) in a three-game series this weekend at Larry H. Miller Field in Provo, Utah. Brigham Young is in first place in the Mountain West Conference while Utah is tied for third place with New Mexico. The Utes and Cougars meet Thursday and Friday at 6:00 p.m. (MDT) and Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (MDT). Friday night's game will be televised by KBYU-TV. The Cougars swept the Utes April 5-7 at Franklin Covey Field in Salt Lake City, winning 12-8 in the opener that was completed on April 6 due to rain, 14-13 in the second game and 11-2 in the series finale.

Utah Update

The Utes, tied with New Mexico for third place in the Mountain West Conference at 8-10, broke a season-long six-game losing streak--all six losses coming in league play---by taking both games of Friday's series opening doubleheader against Air Force. The Falcons salvaged the final game of the series.

Utah is first in the MWC with a .312 team batting average. The Utes are the conference leaders in slugging percentage (.525), runs (302), RBI (277), doubles (94), home runs (59) and total bases (757). Four Utes have a batting average above .300, led by Chris Shelton's .409. Shelton also leads the team in home runs (12) and RBI (43).

The Utes' 6.04 ERA is fourth-best in the conference. Travis Palmer has a 4.54 ERA. Ryan Bailey leads the team in wins with a 5-3 record. Matt McAfee has three saves with a 1.17 ERA in 13 relief appearances.

Scouting Brigham Young

The Cougars are 24-14 overall and in first place in the Mountain West Conference with a 13-5 record. BYU will play a two-game series against Southern Utah on Monday and Tuesday in Provo, Utah, before facing the Utes. The Cougars are on a nine-game winning steak. Last weekend, BYU swept New Mexico 7-5, 11-5, and 3-2 in Provo.

Nate Fernley is the winningest pitcher in the nation with an 11-1 record. He is second in the conference with a 3.00 ERA. Ryan Adams is third in ERA (3.24) with a 5-2 record. Doug Jackson ranks third in the Mountain West Conference in hitting (.375) with five triples. Kainoa Obrey is sixth in the league in hitting (.364) with seven home runs and 29 RBI. Matt Carson leads the MWC with 48 RBI.

Air Force Series Review

Utah took two of three games from Air Force last Friday and Saturday. The games were moved to Rawlings Field in Pueblo, Colo., after a snow storm forced a postponement of the first game on Thursday in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Utes used solid pitching and defense, combined with their steady bats to take the first two games of the series 6-1 and 12-2. Starting pitcher Travis Palmer went the distance on the mound in game one, allowing one run on 10 hits and a walk. Nate Weese opened the scoring for the Utes with a solo home run in the first inning. Palmer surrendered only one hit to the first nine Falcon batters. In the sixth, Chris Shelton hit his first of two home runs on the day. Utah had three twin-killings to end Falcon rallies, including a bases loaded 6-4-3 double play in the fourth. Utah then scored three runs with two outs in the seventh inning. Brit Pannier singled to drive in two runs.

Shelton continued his assault on Falcon pitching, going 4-for-4 with four RBI in the second game. The Utes went out front 5-0 into the top of the third inning. Shelton and Sam Swenson had RBI doubles and Pannier blasted a two-run home run. Utah extended its lead to 8-0 in the fifth when Shelton hit a two-run shot. Jason Wylie, Utah's game two starter, relinquished only five hits in seven innings and allowed only one unearned run. He fanned nine Air Force hitters. Sean Overholt threw a scoreless ninth for Utah.

Utah lost the final game of a three-game series 10-7. Air Force scored seven runs in the first two innings, while Falcon starter Michael Tufte used the early cushion to produce the win in six innings of work, giving up four runs. Utah scored two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh inning to close the gap. Pannier singled and scored on a Donald Hawes double in the sixth. In the seventh, Weese led off with a double and was chased home on an RBI single by Shelton. Swenson singled to put runners on the corners. Shelton and Swenson both scored on wild pitches, but the Falcons quickly killed the rally.

Who's Hot?

Chris Shelton (C/DH) hit .818 in the three-game series against Air Force, going 9-for-11 with three doubles and two home runs. He scored seven runs and drove in seven. In Utah's doubleheader sweep on Friday, Shelton went 6-of-7 with six runs, two home runs, two doubles and five RBI.

Shelton has a 14-game hitting streak going into the BYU series. He has a .556 batting average over the last 14 games with multiple hits in 11 of those contests. He has also hit a home run in three of the last five games.

Sam Swenson (CF) has a hit in 15 of the last 16 games, including eight multiple-hit games.

Travis Palmer (RHP) went the distance for the first time this season to get a 6-1 win over Air Force in the series opener. He improved to 4-3, surrendering an earned run off of 10 hits.

Jason Wylie (RHP) had his longest outing of the season, going seven innings in a 12-2 Utah win in the second game of the Air Force series to improve to 2-1. It was his fifth start of the season and his fourth in a row. Wylie gave up just one unearned run off of five hits with a career-high nine strikeouts and four walks.

Utah Tidbits

* Utah senior center fielder Sam Swenson became Utah's all-time hits leader on April 7 in the final game of the three-game series against BYU. The South Jordan, Utah, native singled to get his 202nd career hit as a Ute, breaking the mark of 201 set by Casey Child (1995-97). Swenson has become the school career leader in three other offensive categories this season. He is first all-time with 654 at bats, 168 runs scored and 14 triples. Swenson is also just 19 total bases away from setting that mark.

* Shortstop Tommy Maestas continues to hit the ball well. After hitting just .214 in 12 games last season, Maestas is third on the team with a .386 average this season with 11 doubles.

* Designated hitter/catcher Chris Shelton leads the team with 23 multiple hits games this season. Mike Westfall and Sam Swenson are tied for second on that list with 16. Shelton also leads the club with 14 multiple RBI games, including seven games with three or more.

Utes in the Mountain West Hitting Statistics

* Chris Shelton ranks first in batting average (.414), first in slugging percentage (.786), first in on base percentage (.482), first in runs scored (41), second in hits (60), fourth in RBI (40), third in doubles (14), second in home runs (12), first in total bases (114) and sixth in walks (21).

* Sam Swenson ranks second in batting average (.383), second in slugging percentage (.691), second in on base percentage (.472), third in runs scored (38), tied for fourth in hits (57), tied for fifth in doubles (11), tied for third in triples (4), tied for fourth in home runs (9) and second in total bases (103).

* Mike Westfall ranks eighth in batting average (.340) and ninth in slugging percentage (.547), sixth in hits (54), first in doubles (16) and sixth in total bases (87).

* Donnie Saba is fifth in runs scored (38) and tied for fourth in stolen bases (11).

* Nate Weese is tied for ninth in runs scored (34), third in RBI (42), third in home runs (10) and seventh in total bases (86).

* Tommy Maestas is tied for fifth in doubles (11).

* Adam Castleton is tied for third in triples (4) and fifth in walks (22).

* Brit Pannier is tied for eighth in home runs (7).

Utes in the Mountain West Pitching Statistics

* Travis Palmer is sixth in ERA (4.54), sixth in opponents' batting average (.283) and fifth in innings pitched (67.1).

* Ryan Bailey is tied for fifth in wins (5), fifth in opponents' batting average (.277) and 10th in innings pitched (55.2).

* Matt McAfee is tied for fourth in saves (3).

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Utah Baseball Faces BYU This Weekend In Provo

Utah at Brigham Young April 19-21 * Larry H. Miller Field * Provo, Utah

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