Upcoming Event: Baseball versus Vanderbilt on October 10, 2025 at 1 p.m.
1 p.m.
Baseball
vs Vanderbilt
Friday, April 14
Salt Lake City, UT
6:00 PM
University of Utah
12-20-1, 3-12-1
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California
15-15, 4-12
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9
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California
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Utah
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10
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Photo by: Eli Rehmer/Utah Athletics
Utah Drops 3-2 Series Opener vs. California
4/14/2023 10:30 PM | Baseball
Van Sickle had a career-high nine strikeouts despite the loss
SALT LAKE CITY – Lefty Bryson Van Sickle went seven innings and fanned a career-high nine batters, but offensively the Utes were held to just a run by California starter Christian Becerra and the home club fell by a 3-2 score on Friday night at Smith's Ballpark.
On a night where both starters had solid outings, Van Sickle's nine strikeouts were the most by a Utah pitcher this season and most since Matthew Sox's 11 punchouts in the May 2022 series opener vs. Stanford. He surrendered just two runs on two walks and eight hits, picking off two baserunners and retiring the leadoff man five of seven times. On the other side, Becerra worked six innings of one-run ball.
Fellow southpaw Ernesto Lugo-Canchola briefly appeared in the eighth inning before right-handed submariner Zac McCleve went five up, five down to finish the ballgame for the Utah pitching staff.
Leadoff man Kai Roberts (3-for-5) had a season-high three hits and Cameron Gurney's (3-for-3) three hits tied his most as a Ute. TJ Clarkson (2-for-4) and Jayden Kiernan (2-for-3) also had multi-hit performances, with Clarkson scoring both of Utah's runs aided by a double and Clarkson's first triple of the season. Kiernan's night extended his team-leading on-base streak to 14 straight games played.
The game had a quick pace through the first four innings before the Golden Bears broke the scoreless tie in the fifth. Dom Souto led off with a walk and scored three batters later when Nathan Manning tripled into the right field corner. The ball took an odd carom off the metal fence above the wall padding and sailed back onto the outfield grass, getting Manning into third.
Cal pushed the lead to 2-0 in the sixth inning. Kade Kretzschmar reached with a base hit and came in all the way from first base on Peyton Schulze's double off the top of the center field wall.
Clarkson promptly led off the bottom of the sixth with a double of his own that got over the right fielder and rolled to the wall. He took third on an infield single for Kiernan and scored when Gurney skied a sacrifice fly to left field.
Roberts stole second base in the seventh inning to get into scoring position with one out, but was stranded there as the score remained at 2-1.
In the visiting half of the eighth, Kretzschmar doubled on a play that would score Rodney Green Jr. via an error. Utah pulled back within a run in the bottom of the inning as Clarkson led off with a first-pitch triple to right center field and came 90 feet home on Kiernan's sac fly.
Later in the eighth, Gurney carried the tying run after a single, wild pitch and infield ground out. But he would be left at third base to end the inning.
McCleve quickly worked a 1-2-3 top of the ninth to get Utah back to the bats, but Cal's Austin Turkington retired the Utes in order to bring the ballgame to a close.
Utah and Cal will play the middle game of their three-game set on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT in Smith's Ballpark.
Follow Utah baseball on social media (@utahbaseball).
On a night where both starters had solid outings, Van Sickle's nine strikeouts were the most by a Utah pitcher this season and most since Matthew Sox's 11 punchouts in the May 2022 series opener vs. Stanford. He surrendered just two runs on two walks and eight hits, picking off two baserunners and retiring the leadoff man five of seven times. On the other side, Becerra worked six innings of one-run ball.
Fellow southpaw Ernesto Lugo-Canchola briefly appeared in the eighth inning before right-handed submariner Zac McCleve went five up, five down to finish the ballgame for the Utah pitching staff.
Leadoff man Kai Roberts (3-for-5) had a season-high three hits and Cameron Gurney's (3-for-3) three hits tied his most as a Ute. TJ Clarkson (2-for-4) and Jayden Kiernan (2-for-3) also had multi-hit performances, with Clarkson scoring both of Utah's runs aided by a double and Clarkson's first triple of the season. Kiernan's night extended his team-leading on-base streak to 14 straight games played.
The game had a quick pace through the first four innings before the Golden Bears broke the scoreless tie in the fifth. Dom Souto led off with a walk and scored three batters later when Nathan Manning tripled into the right field corner. The ball took an odd carom off the metal fence above the wall padding and sailed back onto the outfield grass, getting Manning into third.
Cal pushed the lead to 2-0 in the sixth inning. Kade Kretzschmar reached with a base hit and came in all the way from first base on Peyton Schulze's double off the top of the center field wall.
Clarkson promptly led off the bottom of the sixth with a double of his own that got over the right fielder and rolled to the wall. He took third on an infield single for Kiernan and scored when Gurney skied a sacrifice fly to left field.
Roberts stole second base in the seventh inning to get into scoring position with one out, but was stranded there as the score remained at 2-1.
In the visiting half of the eighth, Kretzschmar doubled on a play that would score Rodney Green Jr. via an error. Utah pulled back within a run in the bottom of the inning as Clarkson led off with a first-pitch triple to right center field and came 90 feet home on Kiernan's sac fly.
Later in the eighth, Gurney carried the tying run after a single, wild pitch and infield ground out. But he would be left at third base to end the inning.
McCleve quickly worked a 1-2-3 top of the ninth to get Utah back to the bats, but Cal's Austin Turkington retired the Utes in order to bring the ballgame to a close.
Utah and Cal will play the middle game of their three-game set on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT in Smith's Ballpark.
Follow Utah baseball on social media (@utahbaseball).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Christian Becerra (1-2)
L: Van Sickle, Bryson (2-4)
S: Austin Turkington (2)
Batting:
2B: Kade Kretzschmar 1 ; Peyton Schulze 2
3B: Nathan Manning 1
RBI: Peyton Schulze 1 ; Nathan Manning 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rodney Green Jr 1 ; Kade Kretzschmar 1 ; Dom Souto 1
PO: Rodney Green Jr 1 ; Kade Kretzschmar 1
Batting:
2B: Roberts, Kai 1 ; Clarkson, TJ 1 ; Gurney, Cameron 1
3B: Clarkson, TJ 1
RBI: Kiernan, Jayden 1 ; Gurney, Cameron 1
SF: Kiernan, Jayden 1 ; Gurney, Cameron 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Clarkson, TJ 2
SB: Roberts, Kai 1 ; Kiernan, Jayden 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
0
H
3
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF/LHP
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/ BaseballC/1B
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LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
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