Baseball Set for Three-Game Series with No. 22 Arizona State
Game 7-9: Utah (1-5) at No. 22 Arizona State (5-2)
Friday, March 5-Sunday, March 7
Game Times: Friday: 6:35 p.m. MT, Saturday: 6:35 p.m. MT, Sunday: 12:35 p.m. MT
Phoenix, Ariz. | Phoenix Municipal Stadium
Watch | Live Stats
FIRST PITCH
Utah baseball will head to Phoenix, Ariz. to take on the No. 22 Arizona State Sun Devils for a three-game non-conference series.
Arizona State is 5-2 on the season and Utah comes into the weekend with a 1-5 record.
The Utes have played CS Fullerton and Loyola Marymount the first weekend, so this will be their first trip not to California.
Utah and Arizona State were set to begin Pac-12 play last season when the series and ultimately the season was canceled.
MCLAUGHLIN LEADS OFF
Jaylon McLaughlin was on the bases quite a bit against LMU and triggered a big seventh inning for Utah in the first game. He led the inning off with a double triggering a six-run inning to get them back in the game.
The Utes ended up batting around that inning and he singled later in the inning for the Utes to score their sixth run of the inning.
Overall, McLaughlin had a triple and two doubles in the series. He also had three RBI.
THOMPSON HAS THREE RBI IN WIN
Tyler Thompson had a great start to the season hitting a team-leading .333 in the opening weekend.
On Monday, he went 2-5 with two doubles with one of them clearing the bases. His three RBI in the game was a career high and helped Utah clinch their first win of the season.
KELLY LEADS THE STARTERS
Redshirt sophomore Justin Kelly returned in 2020 after sitting out the 2019 season with an elbow injury. Kelly became the Friday night starter and that's the role he'll continue in this season.
His ERA ended up being the second best on the team at 2.66 and he only allowed seven earned runs in his four starts. Kelly pitched at least 6.0 innings in three of his four starts and pitched 5.1 innings in the other game.
This season, he holds a 5.40 ERA in 10 innings pitched.
In his freshman season, he appeared in 12 games out of the bullpen and held a 6.66 ERA. In 24.1 innings pitched, he had 23 strikeouts.
BROCOFF BACK FROM INJURY
Brett Brocoff is back from an elbow injury and has pitched really well out of the bullpen so far this season.
In 3.0 innings pitched, he hasn't given up a run and struck out three batters. Brocoff has only given up one hit this season.
UP NEXT
The Utes will play their first home games of the season against BYU beginning on Thursday, March 11. The Utes and Cougars will play a three-game series with two games being at Smith's Ballpark and one down in Provo at Larry Miller Field.