SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah baseball team used a balanced offensive effort and timely hitting to defeat Washington State 8-5 Tuesday night on Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark.
Utah finished with 11 hits, including a pair apiece from the top four spots in the batting order:
Luke Jacobs,
Jake Long,
Daniel Arambula and
Cameron Gurney. The evening saw Gurney reach the 100-hit milestone for his career at Utah while Gurney drove in two runs as well. Jacobs scored three times in the win.
Long extended his hitting streak to 13 straight games while Gurney (11) and Arambula (10) are now in double-digit runs. Jacobs tripled to the gap in left field and also had a deep fly ball skip over the wall in right-center for a ground-rule double.
Overall for the night, Utah was 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
It was a staff day on the mound for Utah that saw
Demitri Diamant (1-0) earn the win in relief. Diamant allowed one hit over 1.2 scoreless innings while
David Galindo picked up his first save as a Utah Ute with a scoreless ninth inning.
Washington State struck first with a run in the third inning, but the Utes responded in the fourth.
Jet Gilliam delivered an RBI double to left field to score
Cal Miller and even the game at 1-1.
The Cougars regained the lead in the top of the fifth, but Utah answered with a four-run, four-hit home half to take control. Arambula reached on a bunt single that brought home a run, Gurney followed with an RBI single, and
Matt Flaharty finished the frame with a two-run single to give the Utes a 5-3 advantage.
Utah added to its lead in the sixth inning when Long lifted a sacrifice fly to score Jacobs. After Washington State trimmed the deficit late, the Utes responded again in the eighth. Long delivered an RBI single and Gurney followed with another run-scoring hit to extend the lead to 8-5.
Jacobs earned an outfield assist in the seventh inning after he hustled to track down a fly ball that eluded him in the right field corner. As WSU's Matt Priest rounded third base looking for an inside-the-park home run, Jacobs fired to
Cal Miller, who hit catcher
Derek Smith with a perfect relay throw as Smith threw the tag on Priest and ended the inning.
Next Up
Utah hits the road this weekend to face the Cincinnati Bearcats for a three-game Big 12 Conference series. First pitch in the series opener is scheduled for Friday at 4 p.m. MT.
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