Penultimate Week of Regular Season Begins Tuesday at Utah Tech

Tuesday, May 7

St. George, UT

4:00 PM

University of Utah

Utah Tech

Photo by: Sophia Kuder/Utah Athletics

Penultimate Week of Regular Season Begins Tuesday at Utah Tech

5/6/2024 3:46 PM | Baseball

Utah baseball set for the opening half of home-and-home with the Trailblazers

2024 Utah Baseball Game Notes
Game 46 Date // Time (MT)	Utah (30-15) at Utah Tech (11-36) Tuesday, May 7 // 4 p.m.
Location	St. George, Utah (Bruce Hurst Field)
Live Statistics	SIDEARM Stats
Watch	ESPN+
Game Notes	Utah
@UtahBaseball Social Media	Twitter/X // Instagram // Facebook // #GoUtes // #UteNotes

The First Pitch: Things to Know
Eight regular season games remain for the Utah Baseball team, and the penultimate week begins for the Utes with a non-conference trip down to St. George for a meeting with Utah Tech. First pitch will be at 4 p.m. MT on Tuesday inside Bruce Hurst Field.

This is the front end of a home-and-home with Utah Tech; the teams will rematch in Salt Lake City at Smith's Ballpark next Tuesday, May 14.
Though the Utes fell out of the D1Baseball.com poll after being ranked No. 25 last week, the team is still receiving votes in both the NCBWA and USA Today Coaches polls. Utah has now received votes in the last six NCBWA weekly polls (since April 1) and last five Coaches Polls (since April 8).
Last week's No. 25 ranking for Utah marked the first time that the club has been slotted in the the five current major college baseball polls (D1Baseball.com, Baseball America, NCBWA, Perfect Game and USA Today Coaches).
Utah was last in action with a three-game series at No. 21 Oregon this past weekend. The Utes were able to claim the series finale by a 9-7 score out in Eugene, though both games in a doubleheader on Saturday went to Oregon (7-5 and 5-1).
Core Jackson hit .417 in the series with a crucial three-run double on Sunday, while Tyler Quinn clubbed a three-run homer as well. Colter McAnelly picked up the victory to close out the series.
The win in the series finale also gave Utah its 30^th victory of the season. It came in a total of 45 games, the fastest in school history. Previously, the 1997 team held that record doing so by reaching the mark in 47 games. The 2002 Utes were the last team to reach the 30-win mark.
The Utes begin the week in second place in the Pac-12 standings, two games back from this weekend's opponent—No. 17-ranked Arizona. Utah is 15-9 in conference play, clinching a spot in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament and matching the program's most wins in league play since 2017.
Gary Henderson's club has been absolute road warriors with a 14-9 record in true road games, the most road wins by a Pac-12 team this season. It adds up to 17 wins away from Smith's Ballpark when including neutral-site play during February.
Jackson (.370) and Kai Roberts (.360) continue to lead Utah at the plate, holding the 1-2 spots in the batting order and owning two of the top four batting averages in the Pac-12. Roberts' 68 hits lead the league and include a career-best 16 doubles which also ranks fifth in the league.
The speedy Roberts owns both the single-season (28) and career (61) program records for stolen bases at Utah. His 28 bags this season are a Pac-12 best, 13^th in the nation. In his first three seasons combined, Roberts had 33 stolen bases. Jackson follows him on the Pac-12 season leaderboard with 17 stolen bases.
Entering the home stretch of the regular season, Utah remains one of the Pac-12's highest-scoring offenses at 7.4 runs per game. It's the third-most in the conference, top-75 in the country and continues a steady climb over the last three seasons. In part thanks to assistant coach Todd Guilliams' guidance, the Utes averaged 6.2 runs per game in 2022 and rose to 6.7 runs per game in '23.
The pitching staff also has shown continued progress from a year ago. Now with a 4.82 ERA on the season, Gary Henderson has developed the staff into a top-three group in the Pac-12 and top-50 in the country. It's an improvement from a 7.12 tally at the end of the 2023 season.
Southpaw Micah Ashman picked up his 11th save in the Oregon series finale on Sunday. The NCBWA Stopper of Year Award included Ashman on its Midseason Watch List; he is one save away from tying the Utah single-season record. Ashman's 11 saves on the year are tied with Bridger Holmes of Oregon State for the Pac-12 lead and rank third in the nation.
The Utes met Utah Tech just once during the 2023 season (the other scheduled contest was cancelled due to weather). In the lone meeting in St. George, the Utes came away with a 13-3 win in seven innings. The top five spots in the Utah lineup combined for 12 hits, including three from Kai Roberts plus four runs scored. Bransen Kuehl earned the win on the mound with two innings of relief.
Once through midweek action, a crucial three-game series awaits Utah as the team hosts No. 17 Arizona at Smith's Ballpark from Friday through Sunday, May 10-12. The Friday and Saturday contests will begin at 11 a.m. MT, with the series finale on Sunday scheduled for 7 p.m. MT.