Completed Event: Baseball versus TCU on May 17, 2025 , Loss , 6, to, 8 , (11 inn.)
Final Score
Baseball
(11 inn.)
6
vs TCU
8
Friday, February 23
La Jolla, CA
7:00 PM
University of Utah
at
UC San Diego
Baseball Heads to Tony Gwynn Legacy at UC San Diego and SDSU
2/22/2024 1:00 PM | Baseball
Monday's game at SDSU moved to Sunday at 7 p.m. MT, due to anticipated inclement weather
| 2024 Utah Baseball Game Notes | |
| Tony Gwynn Legacy Date // Time (MT) |
Utah at UC San Diego // Friday, Feb. 23 (7 p.m. MT) Utah vs. Loyola Marymount // Saturday, Feb. 24 (3 p.m. MT) Utah vs. CSU Bakersfield // Sunday, Feb. 25 (1 p.m. MT) Utah at San Diego State // Sunday, Feb. 25 (7 p.m. MT) |
| Location | UC San Diego: La Jolla, Calif. (Triton Ballpark) LMU: San Diego, Calif. (Tony Gwynn Stadium) CSU Bakersfield: La Jolla, Calif. (Triton Ballpark) San Diego State: San Diego, Calif. (Tony Gwynn Stadium) |
| Live Statistics | at UC San Diego // vs. LMU // vs. CSUB // at San Diego State |
| Streaming | None |
| Game Notes | Utah // Pac-12 Weekly Release |
| @UtahBaseball Social Media | Twitter/X // Instagram // Facebook // #GoUtes // #UteNotes |
The First Pitch: Things to Know
It's a return to Southern California for the Utah Baseball team as the Utes head to the Tony Gwynn Legacy tournament, co-hosted by UC San Diego and San Diego State. All told, the Utes will play UC San Diego, Loyola Marymount, CSU Bakersfield and San Diego State from Friday through Sunday.
- Utah will be at Triton Ballpark in La Jolla, California, on Friday and Sunday to take on UC San Diego (7 p.m. MT) and CSU Bakersfield (1 p.m. MT), respectively. On Saturday, the Utes will take on LMU inside Tony Gwynn Stadium (3 p.m. MT).
- Due to anticipated inclement weather on Monday, the Utah-San Diego State game was moved to Sunday at 7 p.m. MT at Tony Gwynn Stadium. It'll cap off a split doubleheader for the Utes coming off the day's earlier game against CSUB inside Triton Ballpark.
- Game streaming will be unavailable for the Utes' four-game slate this weekend. As an alternative, fans can follow live stats for each game as well as a steady stream of game updates on the team's Twitter/X account (@utahbaseball).
- This is Utah's second trip to the Tony Gwynn Legacy in the last three seasons. In 2022, the Utes took two of three games at the event; it included an outstanding start for right-handed pitcher Matthew Sox in the opener against Fresno State. Sox took a no-hitter into the ninth inning of that 2-1 win, a game that also featured Dakota Duffalo's first career home run.
- Head coach Gary Henderson's club is 3-1 coming off of Opening Weekend, bouncing back from a season-opening loss at Pepperdine to take three straight over the Waves and California Baptist. Outfielder Kai Roberts paced the bats with a .313 average and three doubles, while fellow outfielder TJ Clarkson drove in five runs—four on a grand slam in Sunday's win at CBU.
- Newcomer and right-handed pitcher Brett Porthan had the longest start by a Ute last weekend, going seven innings en route to the win on Sunday over Pepperdine. It helped the starters post a combined ERA of just 1.86 across their four outings.
- Porthan allowed just one run on four hits, one walk and struck out one. He retired the leadoff batter in six of his seven innings pitched, carrying a shutout into the sixth inning.
- The Utes welcome back an array of experience from the 2023 season while welcoming a talented crop of newcomers to the '24 club. All told, the Utes welcome 21 newcomers to the squad, with 10 making their first appearances as Utes last weekend (six position players, four pitchers).
- Clarkson, a Pac-12 Preseason All-Conference selection is coming off a redshirt junior year in 2023 that saw Clarkson start all 55 games, primarily in the outfield. He reset career-highs in every major offensive category including batting average (.301), slugging (.628), on-base percentage (.464), runs scored (56), hits (59), doubles (18), home runs (14), RBI (45) and walks (48).
- In addition, Clarkson's 14 dingers were the most by a Ute in the Pac-12 era (dating back to the 2012 baseball season) and most since C.J. Cron's 15 blasts back in 2011.
- D1Baseball.com listed Clarkson as the No. 39-ranked Pac-12 prospect for the upcoming MLB Draft.
- NCBWA Preseason All-American Micah Ashman leads the charge out of the bullpen, coming off an outstanding sophomore year for the southpaw. Ashman, who grew up in nearby Sandy, Utah, had nine saves a year ago and enters the new season on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List. He is ranked by D1Baseball.com as the preseason No. 23 prospect in the Pac-12 for the 2024 MLB Draft.
- Utah will look to make up for the offensive production of Jayden Kiernan, who graduated following the 2023 season. Kiernan (.402) finished just two points short of the Pac-12 regular season batting title and capped his time as a Ute with a .346 career batting average. The latter ranks in the top-10 at Utah dating back to 1996.
- The Utes had three pitchers sign UDFA contracts following the '23 season as well. Right-hand submariner Zac McCleve went to the Tampa Bay Rays organization, and fellow righties Cam Day (LA Dodgers) and Blake Whiting (Milwaukee) also signed professional contracts.
- McCleve reset the program career record for appearances (107) and ranks top-three all-time with 12 career saves. He boasted 9.04 strikeouts per nine innings, the second-most of any Utah pitcher since 1996 (minimum 100 innings pitched).
Last Time Against…
- Friday's meeting with the Tritons will be the first for Utah since UC San Diego transitioned to Division I competition in 2020.
- The Utes spent Opening Weekend 2022 at Loyola Marymount, winning the first two games of three-game set before the finale ended in a tie. During the series opener, Kai Roberts hit a grand slam off the right field light tower at LMU's Page Stadium, while Landon Frei clubbed a solo shot two days later in Frei's first collegiate at bat.
- The 2022 non-conference slate also sent the Utes to CSU Bakersfield, which saw the Utes go 3-1 in their trip to Hardt Field.
- Utah split two meetings with San Diego State during the 2022 Tony Gwynn Legacy, taking a 4-0 shutout on the front end before a travel-shortened finale went to SDSU by a 4-3 score.
Early Number-Crunching
- The Utes stole 10 bases during Opening Weekend, leading the Pac-12 and checking in at 18th in the country.
- Utah's pitching staff (both starters and the bullpen) combined to post a 2.57 earned run average over Opening Weekend. It trails only Oregon State (1.75) for the Pac-12 lead and ranks No. 32 nationally.
Milestone Watch
- TJ Clarkson hit his second grand slam as a Ute during the win at California Baptist last Sunday; it was Clarkson's 29th career home run. The latter is the most by a Utah player in the Pac-12 era and most since C.J. Cron clubbed 46 long balls from 2009-11.
- Clarkson's 100 career walks rank fourth-most in recorded program history; one more would tie Dallas Carroll (101 from 2013-17) for the most in the Pac-12 era. Corey Shimada holds the program record with 151 free passes from 2006-09.
- Kai Roberts' 35 career stolen bases are 17 away from tying both Shimada and Kody Davis (2012-16) for the program record with 52 swipes.
- Roberts (148) is also two starts away from 150 in his career.
- Right-handed pitcher Jaden Harris enters the weekend with 98.1 career innings pitched; he needs 1.2 innings to cross 100 as a Ute.
Players Mentioned
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