ST. GEORGE, Utah – The Utah baseball team (13-10) fell to Utah Tech on Tuesday by a 12-8 score at Bruce Hurst Field.
Austen Roellig and
Kaden Carpenter had two hits apiece and combined for three RBI. Roellig had two doubles—bringing his season total to eight—while
Core Jackson clubbed his fifth home run of the season.
Drake Digiorno came into the game as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning, adding his first double of the season.
Jackson's homer extended his hitting streak to six straight games.
Utah trailed 9-1 after five innings and kicked off a rally effort with Jackson's solo homer in the seventh plus a six-spot in the eighth. But the Trailblazers answered with three runs in the home half of the eighth to pull away.
Utah Tech struck in the bottom of the first, capitalizing on a catcher's interference call before a two-out single scored a runner from third base. The Trailblazers added another tally in the third inning with a second two-out single. A five-spot for the home club brought the score to 7-0 in favor of Utah Tech after four innings.
Roellig put Utah on the board with his first double of the game in the fifth inning. Jackson was hit by a pitch with one out, taking third on a single from Carpenter before scoring on Roellig's double. Jackson led off the seventh inning, sending the first pitch over the right-center field wall by the flagpoles for a solo shot.
Dillon Fine worked a 1-2-3 seventh, all with groundouts, to get the Utes back to the bats.
A Trailblazers pitching change to begin the eighth inning was followed by walks to
Jake Long and
Derek Smith. Digiorno was then called upon as a pinch hitter, driving in Long with a double. After another call to the bullpen,
Cal Kilgore put a single through the right side to bring Smith home from third.
Matt Flaharty then grounded into a fielder's choice as Digiorno scored to cut the deficit to 9-5.
Still with just one out, two more walks went to Jackson plus
Tyler Quinn as the bases were now loaded. Carpenter followed by winning an eight-pitch at bat, tucking a 3-2 offering inside the third-base line for an opposite-field, two-run single. When he later stole second, the throw got away and allowed Quinn to score from third base.
Carpenter, the tying run, would get as far as third base but was stranded there as the score was now 9-8.
A two-out rally for the Trailblazers netted three runs for the home club in the eighth inning as the game went to its final score.
Utah had other opportunities to score throughout the game but left 10 men on base.
Dylan Gazaway (0-1) received the loss.
Next Up
Utah returns to Smith's Ballpark this weekend for a three-game Big 12 Conference series against Arizona State. The series runs from March 28-30, with first pitch on Friday night at 6 p.m. MT.
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