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Show DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE 8 TRACK & FIELD Tuesday, March 20, 2012 BASEBALL Eppard emerges as key player for Utes Bubba Brown STAFF WRITER PHOTO COURTESY UTAH ATHLETICS Brianna LeRoy could have qualified for the NCAA Championships in the high jump last weekend at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego. At the conclusion of the first day, LeRoy was in third place of the heptathlon. Utah shines despite the stormy weather Alex Rasmussen STAFF WRITER Senior Brianna LeRoy set a nice tone to the start of her outdoor track season by possibly qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the high jump. She set a new personal record at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego last week. "To have Bree open the season with a [personal record] was great," said head coach Kyle Kepler. "Her clearance in the high jump will likely be good enough to qualify for the NCAA Championships." Kepler said the top 48 performances and the top 24 relays advance to the opening round of the championships in May. In addition to the high jump, LeRoy turned in some impressive performances during the first day of events in the mo-meter hurdles and the shot put. After those three events, LeRoy found herself in third place heading into Friday's competition with three events left. LeRoy made the most of her opportunities during the final events, claiming a lifetime best in javelin. She threw for 137 feet which also ranks as the third best in school history. She also scored a second place overall finish for the competition with 5,168 points. That point total was good enough for the third highest point total in school history. The overall winner of the event was San Diego State's Allison Reaser who notched 5,475 points. Competition Saturday was cut short because of poor weather conditions. In an effort to reduce injuries, the shot put, discus and pole vault events were canceled. Before the meet was canceled, however, Utah was able to compete in the 400m race and the mom hurdles and was able to produce some good performances despite the harsh weather. Lauryn McKay and Alyssa Johnson took top 15 finishes with McKay taking sixth and Johnson 12th. In the mom hurdles, Angela Kaplar got off to a great start running and jumping with a good time, but during the final three hurdles, she struggled to maintain her efficiency and it cost her a top-three finish. She still managed to take fourth overall. "Overall, I thought our athletes who were able to compete did a good job ... some of them in anything but ideal conditions," Kepler said. "So we are off to a nice start and we will try to build on that this coming weekend at Arizona State with a more complete team as the distance runners will be running for the first time." The Utes will continue their season Friday when they travel to Phoenix for the Arizona State Invitational. If you were to tab a Ute to get a game-winning hit on the road against the Poe-12's most storied program in its first-ever Poe-12 game, you'd probably be inclined to go with one of Utah's offensive stars. As it turned out, it was a role player. Outfielder Connor Eppard struck the big blow that led to Friday's i-o win in the first game of the Utes' doubleheader sweep of USC. Although his eighth-inning single that scored the only run of the game was certainly the most high-profile moment of Eppard's season, it wasn't the first time he's come up with a big hit for the Utes. In part-time duty, the junior college transfer is hitting .3 1o/.394/.44 8 and has become a key cog in the Utes' offensive machine. "I'm just trying to get good pitches to hit and take advantage of the pitches I get," Eppard said. "I'm not trying to stress about anything, but have fun and play for the guys behind me." Eppard's emergence has come as somewhat of a surprise. He was a late signee and head coach Bill Kinneberg said Eppard struggled both offensively and defensively in the fall, which led to him being placed low on the depth chart heading into the spring. But when spring came, Eppard quickly began to impress Kinneberg and he convinced him that he could be the player the Utes thought they were getting when they signed him. "The two weekends we went down to St. George to practice, he was one of the guys who kind of really started to shine offensively," Kinneberg said. "We started noticing him playing much better defense and being the player we thought he could be." The impact Eppard has had for Utah is hard to overstate. While the nucleus of the Ute offense is thought to be solid, the roleplayers have to contribute for the team to score runs. Eppard's output has stretched the lineup and given the Utes versatility they wouldn't have otherwise. Kinneberg likes Eppard in the second spot in the lineup because he can protect lead-off hitter James Brooks, as well as bunt, hit and run to create a speed threat on the basepaths. "Those role-players are vital for you to set the table for the bigger guys, and then help out when we need it," Kinneberg said. "You've got to have nine guys playing well to win." Eppard acknowledges the importance of the Utes having another offensive weapon after Brooks, Parker Morin, Shaun Cooper and Trey Nielsen, but insists the Utes have other guys that can fill that role, too. "It's important, but there's so many guys on the team that can step into that spot," he said. "We all feel pretty comfortable doing it, and we all know we're going to be moving around a little bit [in the lineup]. We want each other to do well, and whoever ends up in that spot, we're going to root for him to get the job done." Going forward, it wouldn't be surprising to see Eppard get more at-bats. Of the seven games in which he's started, the Utes have won four, all during the past two weekends, a statistic Kinneberg said might not be coincidental. "Connor kept working, kept patient and when he got his opportunity, he's really made the most of it," Kinneberg said. "He's helped us win some ballgames and, if you look at our record, he's been in the starting lineup the last five or six games, and we've won four or five of those games. There may be a little bit of a correlation there." bubba@chronicle.utah.edu a.rasmussen@chronicle.utah.edu Letters to the Editor letters@chronicle.utah.edu [3, , 31 igegetc6 Tuesday Special: 99 I / lb Hamburgers! Oatj long wish purchase of Fries, Orink, onion fins or vital' Fries. Since 1981 University Location 222 S. 1300 E. • 582-7200 Also at: 1800 S. State • 255-5000 |