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
Baseball Plays Four Games Against Utah Valley This Week
3/31/2008 12:00 AM | Baseball
March 31, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The University of Utah baseball team (10-12 overall, 3-2 Mountain West) will put its three-game winning streak on the line this week when it plays a four-game series against in-state rival Utah Valley University this week. It all starts on Wednesday at Brent Brown Park in Orem. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. Then, the series moves to Franklin Covey Field on Thursday and Friday for a pair of 6 p.m., matchups. It wraps up with a 1 p.m., matinee back at Brent Brown Park on Saturday.
UVU (4-17-1 overall) hasn't played since it lost, 12-6, to the Utes last week. The Wolverines enter action this week having lost six straight games. They haven't been in the win column since they beat Gonzaga, 5-3, on March 18.
Utah and UVU will battle on the baseball diamond six times this year. Utah won the first meeting, 12-6, back on March 25. After the four-game series this week, they will face each other one last time in Salt Lake City on April 15.
Quoting Head Coach Bill Kinneberg:
On this week's games against UVU: This week is going to be a tough week. We play four straight games, three at night and one day game, and it's important that our concentration level remains where it has been. So, I think this week is going to be big week. We need to make sure that the progress we've been making over the last couple of weekends continues into this week.
On last week versus UVU and Air Force: It was a good week for us. I think we're playing all-around good baseball, both offensively and defensively. I feel as though we pitched extremely well throughout the week. But it was tough to lose Sunday's game to rain. I would've liked to have played the final game against Air Force, because I believe this team could've continued to build on the progress it has already made.
I thought we did a good job of swinging the bats throughout the lineup last week. We got some timely hits, drove in runs, battled with two strikes, and I think the team did what it needed to do to manufacture runs on the board.
Scouting Utah Valley
The Wolverines come into the game with a 4-17-1 overall record. UVU has lost six straight, and nine of its last 10. The last time the Wolverines were in the win column was a 5-3 road win at Gonzaga back on March 18. The lone tie on their tally was an 8-8 affair with California. It was called due to darkness. UVU returns 16 letterwinners, four starters and seven pitchers from its 2007 team that went 25-30. Jace Brinkerhoff is one of the three Wolverine players hitting better than .300 on the team. He leads UVU in hitting (.340), doubles (eight) and home runs (three). Last year, Brinkerhoff was named The Ping! Freshman All-American. On the mound, the Wolverine pitching staff owns a 6.53 earned-run average. Their top hurler is Marcus Moore. He has made six appearances, throwing a team-best 44.2 innings this year. Moore is 2-4 on the season with a 4.03 ERA. Head coach Steve Gardner is in his 18th season as head coach, and will retire at the end of the 2008 season. He is 81-130 as a Division I coach.
Last Week - The Utes won all three games last week, and saw the final game of the week postponed due to rain. It all started with a 12-6 win over Utah Valley last Tuesday and continued with wins over conference rival Air Force, 6-0 and 19-0. Thethird and final game of the Air Force series was postponed due to rain. It will be made up on May 10 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Utes hammered out a then-season-high 21 hits in doubling-up Utah Valley last Tuesday, 12-6. Utah scored in the top of the first, but UVU answered with four straight runs to take the 4-1 lead. The Utes scored in each of the last six innings to take the 12-6 win. It was a four-run fifth inning that vaulted Utah past the Wolverines. A pair of RBI singles and an Austin Jones two-RBI double gave the Utes what they needed. Bryn Card hurled the Utes to victory, tallying his first win of the season. Jesse Shriner's 4-for-5, four-run effort led the Ute offense.
Stephen Fife pitched a complete-game one-hitter last Friday in tallying the 6-0 win over Air Force. He allowed only two baserunners the entire game, allowing a walk in the third and a base hit in the fourth. He fanned eight batters. The Utes belted out 13 hits in the victory, breaking the game open with three-run, three-hit fifth inning. The fifth frame started with an RBI triple by Corey Shimada, and he would score on a ground out by Shriner. The inning's final score was an RBI single by Dustin Hennis.
On the heels of a 21-hit outing on Tuesday, Utah belted out a season-best 22 hits in throttling Air Force Academy last Saturday, 19-0. Most of the damage came in the fourth inning where Utah scored 10 runs on 10 hits. Utah wrapped up the scoring with a pair of homers in the eighth. Cody Guymon hit a leadoff homer while Cooper Blanc smashed a two-run shot. Brian Budrow got the win in tossing 6.0 innings. He whiffed six AFA batters, and allowed only one hit. Geoff Wolfgramm came on in the seventh to pick up the save. All nine starters had a hit, led by the 4-for-4, three-RBI effort of Jones.
Team Notes -
No Soup For You! - The team enters the week having pitched 20 straight innings of shutout ball. Last Tuesday, Utah held Utah Valley scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings, and it followed that up with two nine-inning games of shutout ball against Air Force. During that 20-inning span, the team has only allowed six hits as well. In addition to the four hits AFA had over 18 innings, UVU had a pair of hits in the last two innings of last Tuesday's game.
Utah's Earnings Report - Utah allowed six runs over 27 innings last week, and only one of those six scores were earned. As a result, the pitching staff turned in a scant 0.33 earned-run average last week. The staff entered the week with a 6.17 ERA, and after last week's performances, it tumbled down to 5.33. Leading the way on the mound last week were Stephen Fife and Brian Budrow. Fife threw a complete-game, one-hit shutout, while Budrow threw six innings of one-hit ball. Geoff Wolfgramm came on in relief of Budrow in the seventh, and he threw another three frames of shutout ball.
The Gem Shop - Stephen Fife and Brian Budrow tossed a pair of gems against Air Force last weekend. Fife, threw a one-hitter against Air Force last Friday. He only allowed one walk and one hit, facing just 29 Falcon batters. Fife fanned a season-high eight AFA batters. Budrow went six innings against AFA on Saturday, allowing just one hit in facing the minimum 18 batters. He whiffed six batters, and didn't walk a single opponent.
Extra! Extra! - The Utes tallied 56 hits last weekend, belting out 17 extra-base knocks. That means the Utes went for extra bases almost 31 percent of the time. However, that's not unusual for this team. Of the 265 hits this year, 82 (31 percent) have gone for two or more. Utah has hammered out 58 doubles, seven triples and 18 homers. Those numbers rank fourth, sixth and seventh in the league, respectively. Leading Utah in doubles is Jesse Shriner (10), triples is Corey Shimada (4) and homers are Austin Jones and Cooper Blanc (4 each). Those rank fourth, first and fourth in the MWC, respectively.
Hitting on All Cylinders - The Utes tallied a then-season-high 21 hits in the win over Utah Valley last Tuesday. But, they turned around and belted out a new season-best 22 against Air Force last Saturday. Utah has had double-digit hits in four of the last five games, losing only in the game that it didn't break the 10-hit barrier. Utah has had 13 10-plus hit games this year, going 8-5 in those outings.
Hit Parade - Utah is hitting a league-high .334 this season. It comes as a result of eight players hitting .300 or better. Six of the team's .300 hitters are starters. They are led by Jesse Shriner (.422) and Cody Guymon (.411). Shriner is second in the MWC in hitting while Guymon checks in at third. Trailing those two are Dustin Hennis (.378), Michael Beltran (.366), Corey Shimada (.363) and Austin Jones (.330). Two more players that come off the bench are also playing .300-plus ball. Nick Kuroczko and Tyler Relf are hitting .367 and .304 for the season, respectively. Utah is one of three teams in the MWC hitting .300 or better, while Shriner and Guymon are two of three MWC players topping the .400 hitting plateau.
Balls and Strikes - The team has lost only two games to weather this year. One of the two (the March 30 rain out against Air Force) will be made up ... Utah has held eight opponents to five runs or less. It is 8-0 in those games. The team has only won two games when allowing six or more runs ... seven of the 10 victories this season have been day games. However, Utah has won its last three night outings. Three of the four games this week are night games ... the team's average for the season is .334. It bumps up to .341 with runners on, and to .478 with the bases loaded. Cody Guymon leads all Ute players with a .469 (30-for-64) average with runners on ... 47 of the team's 158 (30 percent) RBI have come with two outs. Guymon's eight two-out RBI leads the team ... opponents hit .295 against Utah, but that average sinks to .254 with two outs. Stephen Fife holds opponents to just .179 hitting when there are two outs.
At the Helm - Head coach Bill Kinneberg is in his fourth consecutive season as Utah's mentor and his fifth overall season as the Ute head coach. He was on the Utah bench for the 1996 season and returned to The U. in 2004. He is 111-125 all-time at Utah and he owns a 356-308 career record in 11 years. Prior to Utah, Kinneberg was a head coach at both UTEP and Wyoming, and he was also a pitching coach in the White Sox minor league organization. Bill Kinneberg is assisted by Bryan Conger, Bryan Kinneberg and Nate Schlieman.
Up Next - The Utes will continue a five-game road swing next week. They play a non-conference game at BYU on April 8, and they play at San Diego State from April 11-13. Utah will return home on April 15 when it hosts Utah Valley for the final meeting of the six-game season series.
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