Four-Game Sweep Complete as Utah Downs Pepperdine, 6-1

Monday, February 17

Malibu, Calif.

1 p.m.

University of Utah

4-0

Pepperdine

0-4

Utah

Pepperdine

Four-Game Sweep Complete as Utah Downs Pepperdine, 6-1

2/17/2025 5:41 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Panaro finishes a home run short of the cycle

MALIBU, Calif. – The Utah baseball team (4-0) completed a four-game sweep to open its season on Monday afternoon, defeating Pepperdine by a 6-1 score at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

Keeping with a constant theme of the weekend, there was again a long list of contributors for Utah as seven different Utes had a hit with four multi-hit performances. Santino Panaro was 3-for-4 with two RBI, finishing a home run short of the cycle.

Altogether, the team had five extra-base hits. In addition to Panaro's day, Kaden Carpenter doubled while Austen Roellig contributed a triple. Core Jackson also clubbed his first home run of the season.

On the mound Ian Culver made his first Utah start, going two scoreless innings as Utah had four pitchers see action. Southpaw Mateus Conaway (1-0) made his Utah debut with two more scoreless frames before Dillon Fine came on for his first outing as a Utah Ute. Cameron Nielson tossed the final three innings and picked up a save for his efforts.

Utah broke the ice in the top of the third inning when Jackson clubbed a two-run home run over the right field wall. Matt Flaharty had led off the frame with a base hit to set the stage for Jackson's dinger.

The clubs traded runs in the sixth inning, with Utah plating one thanks to two-out timely hitting. Flaharty laced a single to center field with Carpenter scoring on the play. Pepperdine would get one back in its half of the sixth as the score moved to 3-1 in favor of Utah.

Three extra-base hits for Utah in the seventh built the Utes' lead to 6-1. Roellig slapped a first-pitch triple into the right field corner, followed up by an RBI double from Carpenter. Then after Zakye Hawkins was hit by a pitch, Panaro blasted the first pitch to the gap in right-center field for a two-run triple to make it a 6-1 ballgame at stretch time.

Nielson worked around a single in the eighth, before battling back from two singles to begin the bottom of the ninth. He notched a strikeout looking with runners at second and third before getting a pair of fly balls to lock up the series sweep.

Next Up
The Utes will head back home tonight and get ready for the Tony Gwynn Legacy series, co-hosted by San Diego State and UC San Diego. Utah's slate for next weekend begins Friday, Feb. 21 with a 7 p.m. MT first pitch against San Diego State inside Tony Gwynn Stadium.

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