Utes Take Back-and-Forth Game from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Sunday, February 26

Corpus Christi, TX

2:00 PM

University of Utah

3-4

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

3-4

Utah

A&M-Corpus Christi

Photo by Blake Purcell

Utes Take Back-and-Forth Game from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

2/26/2023 6:28 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Van Sickle struck out seven and pitched the final five innings of the 7-6 victory

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In a back-and-forth game that featured six ties and five lead changes, the Utah baseball team defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 7-6, on Sunday at Whataburger Field in the final game of the Kleberg Bank College Classic.

Utah (3-4) will rematch with the Islanders on Monday at 9:30 a.m. MT, though this game will be played on A&M-Corpus Christi's campus at Chapman Field and is not part of the Kleberg Bank College Classic.

Kai Roberts put Utah on the board in the first inning with his first home run of the season, and both Cameron Gurney and TJ Clarkson contributed doubles. Dakota Duffalo was 4-for-4, a career-high hits, scoring twice. Jake Gish was 2-for-4 and contributed three runs.

Lefty Bryson Van Sickle (1-1) highlighted the day on the mound for Utah, taking the Utes home with five innings of two-run ball, allowing two runs on four hits and one walk. He struck out seven, his most since posting a career-high eight at Cal State Bakersfield in March 2022. Van Sickle came on in relief of Jaden Harris, who received a no-decision in the start.

The teams traded runs in the first two innings, with Utah coming away with a 2-1 lead. After the game's first two batters were retired, Roberts gave the visitors the early lead with a solo blast over the right-center field wall. But the Islanders would equalize in their first turn at bat, taking advantage of an error.

Then in the top of the second, Gish reached on a fielder's choice, took second on a single, then scored when a wild pitch got away and allowed Gish to take an extra base.

But A&M-Corpus Christi would pull back in front in the bottom of the fourth with back-to-back RBI doubles, moving the score to 3-2 for the home squad.

The run-trading continued on through the middle innings, with each club plating a run in the fifth inning and a pair in the sixth. For Utah, Dakota Duffalo came across in the fifth inning when TJ Clarkson grounded into a fielder's choice. Then in the sixth inning, Cameron Gurney scored on an error before Gish scored again on a ground out.

Trailing 6-5 in the eighth inning, Duffalo laced a one-out single to put Gish on third as the tying run. With the lineup now turned over, Bruer Webster laid down a nicely-placed sacrifice bunt to score Gish and level the score at six.

Next up was Landon Frei, who hit a grounder towards second that found its way into the infield. Duffalo, who had taken second base on Webster's small-ball, came around to score the game-winning run on the play.

Van Sickle retired the Islanders 1-2-3 in both the eighth and ninth innings to seal the ballgame, striking out a pair in the eighth and another in the final frame.

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