Kerr Foster and the Utah baseball team have four games in the state of Utah this week.

Four Games Ahead for Utah Baseball

Utes play at UVU, host Air Force this week.

March 24, 2008

The University of Utah baseball team (7-12 overall, 1-2 Mountain West) has four games on the docket this week. The Utes return to the road at Utah Valley on Tuesday, then come home to host Air Force for a three-game series at Franklin Covey Field on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Crimson and White enter the week on the heels of a 1-2 weekend. It sandwiched a 7-5 win over San Diego State in between 7-2 and 9-3 losses to the Aztecs.

First pitch at UVU is set for 7 p.m. The Friday game against Air Force will start at 6 p.m., while the Saturday and Sunday matinees will both start at 1 p.m.

Utah is slated to throw John James on Tuesday against Utah Valley. When the Air Force series kick off, Utah will throw Brian Budrow on Friday, Stephen Fife on Saturday and James again on Sunday.

UVU (4-16-1 overall) enters the week on a five-game losing streak. It lost a three-game series to Washington last week. The Wolverines' last win came on March 18 at Gonzaga, 5-3. Air Force Academy (7-12, 0-3 MWC) dropped its first conference series of the season to BYU, losing all three to the Cougars last weekend. The Falcons' last win came on March 16 when they topped South Dakota State, 11-8.

Quoting head coach Bill Kinneberg
On Utah Valley and Air Force Academy this week: This is a big week for us. We start it off with an in-state rival in Utah Valley. I'm sure we'll see their top pitcher, so it will be interesting to see how we play on Tuesday. Obviously our focus is on the Mountain West Conference games, but we have to be ready to play and focused on Tuesdays from here on out.

Air Force will then come in for a three-game series this weekend. The goal for our team is to play better each and every weekend.

On last week against San Diego State: I think our infield defense played well, and I saw some good pitching performances last weekend. However, I don't think we swung the bats to our potential, especially on Saturday. I was fairly disappointed with our offensive outing last weekend.

Scouting UVU
The Wolverines come into the game with a 4-16-1 overall record. UVU has lost four straight, and seven of its last eight. The last time the Wolverines were in the win column was a 5-3 road win at Gonzaga back on March 18. The lone tie on their tally was an 8-8 affair with California. It was called due to darkness. UVU returns 16 letterwinners, four starters and seven pitchers from its 2007 team that went 25-30. Jace Brinkerhoff leads the team in hitting (.337), doubles (eight) and home runs (three). The Ping! Freshman All-American from last season has returned to lead the 2008 squad. He is one of three UV batters hitting better than .300 on the young season. On the mound, the Wolverine pitching staff owns a 6.31 earned-run average. Their top hurler is Marcus Moore. He's 2-3 on the season with a 3.23 ERA. Head coach Steve Gardner is in his 18th season as head coach, and will retire at the end of the 2008 season. He is 81-129 as a Division I coach.

Scouting Air Force
The Air Force Falcons enter the week with a 7-12 overall mark and an 0-3 tally in MWC play. They have lost three straight games, dropping all three games of the weekend series with conference rival BYU. Before coming to Utah, the Falcons will play at Charleston Southern on Monday and Savannah State on Tuesday and Wednesday. AFA returns 17 letterwinners, seven starters and seven pitchers from the 2007 squad that went 8-44. The Falcons went 0-23 in league play last year. The team is led by a pair of .300 hitters. Topping the list is Chay Derbigny and his .320 average. He also has a team-leading seven doubles. The pitching staff enters the week with a 7.48 earned-run average. The Academy's top thrower is Michael Ruvolo. He's made a team-best 11 appearances, and is 2-1 with a 4.76 earned-run average. Mike Hutcheon is in his fourth year on AFA's bench. He's 40-187 as its mentor.

Last Week - The Utes dropped two of three games to San Diego State last weekend. Utah began conference play with a 7-2 loss last Thursday. It rebounded for a 7-5 win on Friday, but dropped a 9-3 decision in the series finale Saturday.

In the series opener, the Aztecs raced out to a 3-0 lead, but Utah rallied to trim the deficit, 4-2 after the fourth inning. However, SDSU scored three unanswered runs over the last three innings to escape with the five-run win. The visitors nearly doubled-up the Utes on hits, 13-7, as Utah hurler Stephen Fife took the loss. He allowed 10 hits and five earned runs. Utah belted out seven hits, including a triple by Corey Shimada. However, the team's top hitter was Micahel Beltran who went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

Both teams tallied 11 hits, but Utah bounced back for the 7-5 victory in the second game of the series. Brian Budrow won his third consecutive game, and John James came on in relief to pick up his first save on the year. Utah jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the first inning, thanks to a three-run, bases-clearing double by Dustin Hennis. The Utes scored one more in the second, and the game-winner in the fourth. SDSU mounted a rally late in the game, scoring four runs in the eighth and ninth innings, but it wasn't enough as Utah held on for the two-run win.

SDSU owned a 12-9 edge in hits as it jumped out to an 8-0 lead after two innings in the series finale. Utah would score the next three runs, thanks in part to a Shimada homer and a Nick Kuroczko RBI double, but the Utes couldn't dig themselves out of the hole. Andrew Wilding only went two-thirds of an inning and suffered the loss, as he allowed five runs on five hits.

Team Notes
Diaper Dandies - A pair of freshmen were the top offensive threats for the Utes in their first weekend of conference play. Michael Beltran and DC Legg were the top two hitters for Utah during the conference-opening weekend against San Diego State. Beltran led all Utah hitters with a 6-for-12 (.500) effort while Legg hit at a .429 (3-for-7) clip last weekend.

Way to Go, Slugger! - Corey Shimada hit .333 last weekend, going 4-for-12 at the plate. However, of the four hits, two of them went for extra bases. He hit one homer and one triple during the three-game conference series against San Diego State. Shimada's nine total bases on four hits gave him an eye-popping .750 slugging percentage. Shimada has a knack for legging-out extra-base hits. Last year, he was third in the nation in triples.

Hit Parade - Utah boasts five regular players in its lineup that are hitting .350 or better. Leading the way for Utah is Jesse Shriner with his .418 (20-for-67) average. Trailing him on the team is: Cody Guymon (.373); Corey Shimada (.368); Michael Beltran (.362); and Dustin Hennis (.352). A sixth player, Nick Kuroczko also hits better than .350 on the year. He's hitting at a .357 clip, but he has only played in 10 games, tallying 28 at bats. With Utah's success at the plate, it is one of only three conference schools with a team batting average better than .300 (.312).

K-Man - Brian Budrow is one of three Mountain West Conference pitchers with 30-plus strikeouts on the season. He is third in the conference with a team-best 32 K's on the season. Budrow's K total is buoyed by three eight-plus strikeout performances, tallying 10 against Southern Utah on March 7 and a career-high 12 versus Indiana on March 13. He has made five appearances this season, going 3-1. He's won his last three starts, pitching into the seventh or eighth inning in each of those games.

Double Your Pleasure - The Utes already have 46 doubles on the seasons, nearly half the total Utah had a year ago (103). Leading the team in doubles is Cody Guymon with eight and Jesse Shriner with seven. Those totals, thus far, rank third and fifth in the league, respectively. On the season, Utah has tallied 66 extra-base hits, which equates to 31 percent of their hits. In addition to the 46 doubles, Utah has five triples and 15 homers.

Balls and Strikes - Utah is 6-8 in day games, and it is 1-4 in night games. Its first night win was last Friday against San Diego State ... the team is 6-0 when it takes a lead into the eighth inning ... the Utes are 6-2 when it out-hits an opponent this season ... the team is hitting .312 for the season, but that average bumps up to .337 with runners on base. It's even higher (.438) with bases loaded. Jesse Shriner is hitting a team-best .462 (18-for-39) with runners on base ... 40 of the teams 123 RBI (32 percent) have come with two outs in the inning ... Cody Guymon has eight two-out RBI and Michael Beltran has plated seven runs with two outs on the board ... Brian Budrow is tops on the team in at retiring the leadoff batter ... the inning's first batter only reaches 21 percent of the time against Budrow.

At the Helm - Head coach Bill Kinneberg is in his fourth consecutive season as Utah's mentor, and his fifth overall as the Ute head coach. He was on the Utah bench for the 1996 season and returned to The U. in 2004. He is 108-125 all-time at Utah and he owns a 353-308 career record in 11 years. Prior to Utah, Kinneberg was a head coach at both UTEP and Wyoming, and he was also a pitching coach in the White Sox minor league organization. Bill Kinneberg is assisted by Bryan Conger, Bryan Kinneberg and Nate Schlieman.

Next Week - The Utes play a four-game series with in-state rive Utah Valley. The two rivals play in Orem, Utah, on April 2, at Franklin Covey Field on April 3 and 4, and back in Orem on April 5. The Utes will then play BYU in a non-conference game on April 8.S