Baseball Turns Attention to Hosting Cal at Smith's Ballpark

Friday, May 3

Salt Lake City, UT

6:00 PM

University of Utah

California

Baseball Turns Attention to Hosting Cal at Smith's Ballpark

4/30/2019 2:11 PM | Baseball

Game Notes (PDF)

Utes Finished Last Homestand 4-3

Game 38-40: Utah (12-25, 4-17) vs. Cal (24-15, 10-8)
Friday, May 3-Sunday, May 5
Game Times: 6 p.m., 4 p.m., 12 p.m.
Salt Lake City, Utah | Smith's Ballpark
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ESPN 700 (Radio)

FIRST PITCH
Utah returns home to take on the Cal Bears in a series beginning on Friday, May 3 at 6 p.m. at Smith's Ballpark.

The Utes are coming off a tough series against No. 1 UCLA on the road and sit at 12-25 and 4-17 in Pac-12 play.

Cal comes in with a 24-15 record and 10-8 in conference play. Andrew Vaughn, the 2018 Golden Spikes winner, is back and having another monster year for the Bears hitting .384 with 11 home runs and 37 RBI. They also have one of the best pitchers in the Pac-12 in Jared Horn. He holds a 1.71 ERA and is 4-1 on the season.

All three games will be streamed this weekend on UtahUtes.com.

Originally, the third game was scheduled for 1 p.m., but has been moved up an hour to start at noon.

SERIES
Utah is 6-18 against Cal, but Utah has won the series in two of the last three seasons.

Last year, Cal took two out of three against the Utes in Berkeley.

At the beginning to the season Dusty Baker spoke at Utah's 'Evening with' banquet and his son plays on Cal's team.

DUNN ALWAYS ON BASE
Second baseman Oliver Dunn leads the team hitting .354.

Dunn had a career high six RBI in the opening game of Pac-12 play against Arizona, going 3-6 at the plate with two doubles.

He leads the team scoring 37 runs and had one more against UCLA. He has touched 83 total bases.

Dunn had an 18-game hitting streak, but it was snapped in the first game against USC. He still has at least one hit in 31 of the 34 games played this season.

Dunn has also been a warrior on the field through his career, starting in 140 of the 142 games he's seen action in. He has started in 105 straight games at second base going back to 2017.

TEDESCHI STAYS CONSISTENT IN THE STARTING ROTATION
Joshua Tedeschi leads the team and is fourth in the Pac-12 having pitched 63.1 innings this season.

He has pitched at least six innings in six of his 11 starts and has pitched over seven innings in his last two starts. Against UCLA, he pitched a season high 7.2 innings and had a season high eight strikeouts in the game.

Tedeschi leads the team with five wins on the year with his latest coming against No. 12 Arizona State.

When guys do get on base, Tedeschi is good at holding runners and is third in the Pac-12 with three pick offs this season.

PIERCE STEPS UP AS FRIDAY NIGHT STARTER
Riley Pierce was thrust into the starting rotation after an injury to Kyle Robeniol in the Oregon State and has pitched really well for the Utes.

Once Pierce got out of the second inning, he held the Beavers offense in check keeping them off the board to finish the game over the final 6.1 innings.

He carried that over and has had two quality starts since then against USC and Arizona State. Against UCLA, Pierce pitched a season high 7.0 innings.

Earlier in the year, Pierce, Jack Liffrig and Jake Dahle combined to pitch a shutout against Western Carolina in a 14-0 rout by the Utes.

Pierce got the start and earned his first win after pitching 5.0 innings with five strikeouts and only giving up four hits. Liffrig came in first and went 3.0 innings, only giving up one hit and then Dahle closed things down in the ninth retiring the Catamounts in order with two strikeouts.

It was the first shutout since the Utes held USC scoreless in 2018.

NEXT UP
Utah will travel to Washington to take on the Huskies in Husky Ballpark. The series will begin Friday, May 10 at 8 p.m. All three games will be broadcasted on Pac-12 Network. It will be the final road series of the year for Utah.