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 Finishes 2008 With Third-Place Tournament Finish
5/28/2008 12:00 AM | Baseball
May 28, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The University of Utah baseball team (26-28 overall) wrapped up the 2008 season last week by taking third in the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. The Utes went into the tourney as the fifth seed, but they were one of three teams left on championship afternoon last Friday. However, top-seeded TCU dealt the Cinderella team a 6-3 loss in the semifinals, and the Horned Frogs eliminated the Utes from the tournament.
"It was nice to go through the tournament, making it all the way to Friday," said head coach Bill Kinneberg. "It was a positive experience for our team and it will be a benefit to all of the young guys on the squad.
"There were times in the tournament when we played very well. But, TCU is clearly the best team in our league and everyone has a ways to go before we catch up to them."
In taking third, the Utes saw three of their players on the all-tournament team. John James, who pitched a complete game shutout against San Diego State, was named to the team as a pitcher. Cody Guymon landed on it as the designated hitter, and Dustin Hennis was one of the team's outfielders.
The Utes finished the regular season with a 26-28 overall mark. The 26 wins are the second-most wins by a Utah team in the last six years. Only Kinneberg's team from 2006 (28-28 overall) has had more wins in that span. In conference play, the Utes won three of the eight conference series and finished 10-14. That earned the Utes a fifth-place finish.
"The youth on this team got a lot of experience this season," said Kinneberg. "And, hopefully, that will help us out much more in the future. We knew going into the season that we were going to be young at some key spots. So, we finish the season with the hope that we will be a much stronger team because of it."
Last Week - The Utes finished third at the Mountain West Conference Tournament last week in going 3-2. The Utes went into it as the No. 5 seed, and they beat No. 4 BYU (9-3), No. 3 San Diego State (1-0) and No. 6 UNLV (7-4). The two losses came at the hands of the top two seeds. Utah dropped an 8-2 decision to No. 2 New Mexico and a 6-3 loss to top-seeded TCU.
The Utes opened up the tournament with a 9-2 win over BYU. Utah jumped out to an 8-0 lead on the Cougars, thanks in part to two-run homers, one from Dustin Hennis in the third and another from Corey Shimada in the fourth. The Cougars scored in the seventh to make it 8-2, and each team scored a run in the ninth to make it 9-3. Utah had the 10-5 edge in hits as Tyler Relf led the way in going 3-for-5. Brian Budrow hurled the Utes to victory after taking 10 days off. He threw the first complete game of his collegiate career.
The second-seeded Lobos jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Utah in the Utes' second game of the tournament. A Cody Guymon RBI ground out in the fifth made it 3-1, but New Mexico scored the next five runs to make it 8-1. Jesse Shriner's RBI single in the ninth made it 8-2 as Utah finished with the 11-10 edge in hits. Michael Beltran led the team in going 3-for-4 at the plate. Stephen Fife went 6.0 innings in taking the loss for Utah.
Utah rebounded in its third game to beat San Diego State 1-0. The only difference in the game was Hennis' RBI single in the third. John James went toe-to-toe with the top pitcher in the league, SDSU's Stephen Strasburg. James threw a complete game shutout while Strasburg earned the loss after 7.0 innings of work. Utah held the 7-4 advantage in hits as Shriner was the only Utah player with multiple hits.
The Utes held a slim 3-2 lead heading into the seventh inning of game four against UNLV. However, a two-run homer off the bat of Hennis lifted the Utes to victory. He accounted for two of the team's three runs in the seventh, lifting Utah to the 7-4 win. Utah owned the 13-11 edge in hits as four Utah batters had two-hit afternoons against the Rebels. Bryn Card threw 6.1 innings in tallying the win for Utah.
The fifth and final game for Utah in the tournament was a 6-3 loss to top-seeded, and eventual tournament champion, TCU. The Utes raced out to a 2-0 lead on the Horned Frog, and Utah still led 2-1 after three complete innings. But TCU would out-score Utah, 4-2 the rest of the of way in bagging the win. TCU had 10 hits to Utah's eight, and it was Shriner's 2-for-4 effort that led the Utes. Kerr Foster got the nod for Utah, and he takes the loss.
Team Notes -
Going the Distance - Utah pitchers Brian Budrow and John James threw the first complete games of their collegiate careers last week. Budrow did it in the first-round victory over BYU in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. He went nine innings and allowed five hits, three runs (two earned) and four walks. He struck out 10 BYU batters. James went the distance against San Diego State in the tournament. He shut out the Aztecs, only allowing four hits and four walks. James fanned nine Aztec batters.
Honored - John James, Cody Guymon and Dustin Hennis were all named to the MWC All-Tournament Team last week. James was the only pitcher in the tournament to pitch a complete game shutout, and his nine K's were second only to teammate Brian Budrow (10). Guymon was 13th among all tournament players in batting average (.350), and Hennis was second in RBI (7) and homers (2). Hennis had game-winning RBI in elimination games against SDSU and UNLV.
Pick a Card, Any Card - Lefty Bryn Card watched his earned-run average tumble in the last month and a half. When he finished pitching against San Diego State back on April 12, he had an 8.79 ERA. Since April 12, he's pitched 21.2 innings and his ERA has been an eye-popping 0.83. With his effort over the last 21.1 innings, his overall ERA has fallen from 8.79 to a respectable 4.00.
The 1-2 Punch - Utah's No. 1 and No. 2 pitchers, Stephen Fife and Brian Budrow, were the mainstays of Utah's pitching staff. They combined to throw 172 (37 percent) of the team's total innings, and they have a combined 151 (43 percent) of the team's strikeouts. Opponents who face these two pitchers hit just .261, well below the team's opponent batting average of .293. Budrow led Utah's starting pitchers with a 3.49 earned-run average while Fife was second with a 3.72 ERA. Both have etched their respective names in the Utah record book, tying the school's record for strikeouts in a game. Fife had 12 K's against UNLV (April 25) and Air Force (May 9). Budrow fanned 12 opponents at the Pepsi Johnny Quick tournament against Indiana (March 13).
Nice Save - Relief pitcher Robert Chimpky has penciled his name in Utah's record book. The right-handed closer finished with nine saves on the year, tying the school's single-season mark set by Clay Westmoreland back in 2004. Chimpky finished the year with a 5.83 earned-run average in 29.1 innings pitched. He had 27 K's to 14 walks and opponents hit .294 against him.
Now That's Clutch - Cody Guymon wasn't afraid to swing the bat with two outs. He led the team with 20 two-out RBI. He also had an impressive .358 batting average with two outs on the board. Freshman shortstop Michael Beltran wasn't too bad in clutch situations either. Beltran was tops on the team with a .386 two-out batting average. His 14 two-out RBI were third.
Be Like Mike! - Freshman Michael Beltran posted impressive numbers in his first season of collegiate ball. The rookie shortstop hit .372 (73-for-196) for the season, and he finished conference play hitting .389 (35-for-90). His overall season average led all freshman hitters in the MWC, and it ranked fourth in the league. More impressive, though, Beltran finished the last month of the regular season hitting a blistering .397 (29-for-73). Prior to the final month of regular-season play, Beltran was hitting .358. Those numbers aren't bad considering he was a meager 1-for-11 (.091) in his first-ever weekend of collegiate ball (at San Jose State, Feb. 22-24).
Big Hitters - The Utes were one of the best-hitting teams in the conference. They were first in batting average (.323), and in slugging (.475) and on-base (.395) percentages. Those numbers got a boost from their eight .300-plus hitters this season. Utah was the only team in the MWC with eight .300-plus hitters in its lineup. Utah's top hitters were: Cody Guymon (.383), first on the team, second in the league; Michael Beltran (.372), second on the team, fourth in the MWC; Jesse Shriner (.359), third on the team, seventh in MWC; and Cooper Blanc (.345), fourth on the team, 11th in the league. Utah's other .300 hitters are Corey Shimada (.329), Austin Jones (.326) and Dustin Hennis (.325). Nick Kuroczko started the last 16 games. He hit .330 this season.
Triple Threat - Utah had 17 triples this season, ranking tied for fifth in the league. But, the team boasted one of the top hitters in that category. Corey Shimada had seven of the team's 17 triples, ranking tied for second in the league. Through May 18, Shimada ranked 18th in the nation in triples. Last year, he was third in the nation with 10 triples. For his career, Shimada has a school-record 18 triples. He broke the career record with a triple at San Diego State on April 11.
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