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Baseball Opens CSUB Series With 4-2 Win

by Utah Athletics
Mar 4, 2022

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – It was another quality start on the mound for righty Matthew Sox and both TJ Clarkson and Matt Richardson homered in a 4-2 Utah win over CSU Bakersfield on Friday night at Hardt Field.
 
Sox (2-0) dealt 7.1 innings of two-run, five-hit ball with no walks. His seven strikeouts were a season-high and tied his most as a Ute. Ben Kibbe relieved Sox and allowed a pair of singles in the final 1.2 innings, fanning one and culminating with second baseman Landon Frei starting a 4-6-3 double play to end the game. It earned Kibbe his first save of the season.
 
After two strikeouts to begin the second inning, Clarkson put Utah on the board going yard on the first pitch he saw. It was his second home run in as many games. He would go on to single two at bats later, logging his second straight multi-hit game.
 
In the third inning Utah doubled its lead to 2-0. Frei worked a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position on Dakota Duffalo's sacrifice bunt. Aided by a passed ball, he scored when the lineup turned back over and Carter Booth hit a sac fly to center field.
 
CSUB leveled the score at two, but more two-out magic returned the lead to Utah in the sixth inning. Clarkson kept the frame alive with a two-out base knock to right field, then Richardson clubbed his first dinger of the year by way of the left field wall. It gave Utah a 4-2 lead.
 
These teams will meet again on Saturday, March 5 for a doubleheader beginning at 2:05 p.m. MT at Hardt Field.
 
Follow Utah baseball on social media @utahbaseball.
 

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