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
Utah Baseball Opens Season in Surprise, Ariz.
2/15/2016 12:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 15, 2016
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Complete Release in PDF Format 
Projected Starters
Friday vs. Minnesota: Utah's Jayson Rose (So./RHP) vs. Minnesota's Matt Fielder (Jr./RHP)
Saturday vs. Ball State: Utah's Dalton Carroll (Sr./RHP) vs. Ball State TBA
Sunday vs. Minnesota: Utah's Riley Ottesen (Fr./RHP) Minnesota's Toby Anderson (Jr./RHP)
Monday vs. Oregon State: Utah TBA vs. Oregon State TBA
SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah baseball team opens its season on Friday, Feb. 19, at a four-game tournament in Surprise, Arizona.
The Utes open the tournament against Minnesota on Friday at 5:00 p.m. AT and face Ball State on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 6:00 p.m. AT. Utah again faces the Gophers on Sunday, Feb. 21, at 9:00 a.m. AT and closes out the tournament with a non-conference game against fifth-ranked Oregon State on Monday, Feb. 22, at 12:00 p.m. AT.
All four games will be played at Surprise Stadium, the spring training home of the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers.
With a wealth of experience returning, the baseball team looks to make an impact in the Pac-12. The Utes return last year's primary starter at every field position. Utah has several three-year starters: Kody Davis and Cody Scaggari in the infield, Wyler Smith in the outfield and AJ Young at catcher. On the mound, the Utes return nearly 77 percent of last year's innings pitched, led by three-year starter Dalton Carroll and 2015 Pac-12 honorable mention selection Jayson Rose. Several newcomers have also stepped up and challenged for starting roles, which could see the coaching staff make several moves early in the year as they work to find the best lineup.
"We have the majority of our position players back and we have a lot of innings by pitchers back from last year," Utah head coach Bill Kinneberg said. "What we're looking for is improvement from those guys, stepping up and improving their game as well as our team's game, but also making sure that the new guys add some value to us as well, and we want them to provide that leadership. At this point, that's gone very well and we think we've made improvements in everyone's individual game which will make our team better."
The Utes spent two weekends during preseason practice training in St. George, Utah, in order to practice outside.
"Things have progressed very well," Kinneberg said. "Our two weekends down in St. George were very productive, and we've had a great week of practice here. I know the players and coaches are anxious to finally put it together and start the season. We're still trying to figure out some of the roles for everyone. Those are things that we will be working on the first two or three weeks - working on a right-handed and left-handed pitching lineup, and where players will fit into the lineup. Who will be the first bat off the bench? Who are our defensive replacements? We'll continue to work through those and hopefully by conference our lineup will be pretty set, and we'll have our rotation and roles for the pitching staff.
Minnesota went 21-30 last year and finished ninth in the Big Ten with a 9-15 record.
Ball State was 22-30 last year, finishing 14-13 in the Mid-American Conference. The Cardinals reached the MAC Championship game last season.
Oregon State, ranked fifth in the D1Baseball.com preseason poll, finished 39-18-1 overall and 19-10-1 in the Pac-12 last season and reached the regional round of the NCAA Championships. Utah went 0-2-1 against the Beavers last year, getting strong pitching in losses in the first two games of the series before tying 2-2 after 15 innings in game three. The two teams will also play a three-game Pac-12 series later in the year.
Players Mentioned
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