Utes Fall to Mercer in Series Rubber Game, 11-5

Sunday, March 27

Salt Lake City, UT

11:00 AM

University of Utah

14-9-1

Mercer

20-5

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Mercer	1	0	3	6	0	0	0	1	0	11	13	1
Utah	0	0	2	2	0	0	1	0	0	5	10	1

Utah vs. Mercer - March 27, 2022 - Salt Lake City, Utah (Smith's Ballpark)

Utes Fall to Mercer in Series Rubber Game, 11-5

3/27/2022 3:42 PM | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Kai Roberts had the first three-double game at Utah since the 2019 season

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah leadoff hitter Kai Roberts had a career-high-tying four hits, including the first three-double game by a Ute since 2019, but Mercer pulled away with a six-run fourth inning on the way to an 11-5 result in the series rubber game on Sunday at Smith's Ballpark.

Utah (14-9-1) now turns its focus to a Tuesday night matchup with in-state foe Utah Valley. It'll close out a six-game home stand for the Utes, with first pitch against UVU coming at 6 p.m. MT from Smith's Ballpark.

Roberts was the third Ute with four-plus hits in this series, coming on the heels of five-hit performances on Saturday from both TJ Clarkson and Landon Frei. Two of Roberts' doubles on the day drove in a run, while Carter Booth had an RBI two-bagger of his own in Sunday's game. Booth and Chase Anderson contributed two hits apiece.

Mercer jumped out first on the scoreboard with one run in the opening inning, followed by a three-spot in the third inning. Utah halved the deficit in the bottom half of the third, using an RBI double from Roberts to score Booth, later followed by an RBI groundout from Anderson to plate Roberts with Utah's second run.

The Bears built their lead up to eight runs in the fourth inning, pushing six across the plate. Utah threatened in the bottom of the fourth and chased Mercer starting pitcher Josh Farmer, but the Utes could only muster a pair of runs. Booth logged an RBI single that brought Alex Baeza around from second base, then when the lineup turned over, Roberts turned on a 1-2 pitch for a double into the right field corner. It scored Davis Cop from second base and cut the Utah deficit to 10-4.

With Roberts on second base and Booth now at third, the Bears made a call to the bullpen, which Anderson followed by working a walk to load the bases with two outs. But a fly ball ended the threat and left the bases loaded.

That 10-4 score remained until the bottom of the seventh inning when Anderson crossed the plate on Baeza's sacrifice fly. Mercer answered with a run in the eighth inning to push the game to its final score of 11-5.

Starting pitcher Cam Day (1-3) received the loss for Utah.

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