OREM, Utah – The Utah baseball team had its third three-home run game of the season, with two off the bat of
TJ Clarkson, but that would be all the Utes could push across the plate in a 14-3 setback at Utah Valley's UCCU Ballpark on Tuesday afternoon.
In a game that saw the wind blowing out for most of the day, both teams combined for seven home runs. The Utes (17-11-1) have now have clubbed 26 home runs during the 2022 season, surpassing the team's 2021 total (24) and now recording the most since the 2018 season (28).
Clarkson, who reached base safely for the 27
th straight game, had his second career multi-homer outing and now has a team-leading nine home runs on the season.
Chase Anderson also contributed a home run, bringing Anderson's total to four on the year. Clarkson, along with
Dakota Duffalo, each doubled in the game.
Utah got on the board first with back-to-back home runs in its half of the first inning. With two outs, Anderson sent a 2-0 pitch over the wall in left center field for a solo shot. Four pitches later, Clarkson drove one to right center field and over the batter's eye for a 2-0 Utes lead. It marked the first time Utah went back-to-back since May 18, 2021.
But UVU put up a seven-spot in the Wolverines' half of the second inning with six hits in the frame. The home squad added two more runs in the third inning for a 9-2 advantage.
The teams traded home runs in the fourth. Clarkson led off the top half by sending one beyond the right center field scoreboard of UCCU Ballpark; then, in the bottom half, Spencer Olsen hit a homer of his own to move the score to 10-3 in favor of the Wolverines.
UVU wrapped up the scoring for the day with four runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Bransen Kuehl carried the Utes through the middle innings on the mound, exiting in the seventh after three innings pitched. He had two strikeouts, both in a 1-2-3 sixth inning. The loss for Utah went to
Brady Maylett (0-2).
The Utes now turn their focus to a seven-game home stand, a stretch that begins with Pac-12 foe and No. 15 nationally-ranked UCLA. The three-game series with the Bruins opens on Friday, April 8 in a 6 p.m. game from Smith's Ballpark.
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