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Show 7 SPORTS www.dailyutahchronicle.corn Wednesday April 18, 2012 BASEBALL UTES BRAVE BYU COMEBACK Five early runs save Utes Bubba Brown s. STAFF WRITER It's amazing what some early runs can do for a baseball team. The Utes scored five runs on II hits in the first three innings to give their pitching staff enough ammo to weather a late BYU comeback attempt in a 6-4 win over the Cougars Tuesday night. Coming into the game, the Utes (10-25, 5-10 Pac-12) had scored in the first inning just five times this season and hadn't scored more than one run in an opening frame. On Tuesday, Utah jumped on BYU starter Chris Capper for three runs in the first and tacked on two more in the UTAH:6 BYU:4 NEXT GAME: UTAH @ California Friday at 2:30 p.m. Berkeley, Calif. next two innings, which proved to be all the offense necessary for victory. "We probably swung the bats the first five innings the best we've done all year," said Utah head coach Bill Kinneberg. "That was really nice to see." See BASEBALL Page 10 444:91:.c' • FILE PHOTO/The Daily Utah Chronicle Pitcher Ben Mordini started off the game strong as the Utes won on the road against BYU 6-4 on Tuesday. The Utes earned five runs on 11 hits in the first three innings, which helped them survive a Cougar comeback in the form of a triple from Dillon Robinson and an RBI single from Adam Law in the sixth. :affair* UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS GYMNASTIC! Fab Five freshmen look to finish first season strong THURSDAY: Track & Field Mt. Sac Relays TBA Walnut, Calif FRIDAY: Baseball Utah @ California 2:30 p.m. Berkeley, Calif Ryan McDonald ASST. SPORTS EDITOR " CHAD ZAVALA/The Daily Utah Chronicle Georgia Dabritz and four other Red Rock freshmen will be competing in their first NCAA National Finals this weekend in Duluth, Ga. Like a mother not wanting her children to grow older, Red Rocks co-head coach Megan Marsden insists that the Fab Five freshmen on her squad still have one more weekend of being the new kids on the block. That's just the thing, though. There is indeed only one more occasion for this special group to compete as first-year college gymnasts, as they'll leave their youth behind and become sophomores next season. The exit from freshmanhood won't be easy or familiar for the newbies. It will take place on college gymnastics' biggest stage, the NCAA Championships in Duluth, Ga. Despite the huge stakes, the prowess and maturity the group has shown throughout the season gives coaches and upperclassmen confidence that the freshmen will be just fine in their first national championships. "This is a different game," Marsden said. "It's going to be the first time for all of them where the team pressure, the team camaraderie and the team feel is going to be this great." The concept of team is something that Utah's top newcomer, Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Georgia Dabritz, counts as most valued in her first season at the U. Though she admittedly didn't have high expectations going into the season, having a group of teammates who set a high bar for themselves consequently raised hers. "The team has helped me a lot more than I thought it would," Dabritz said. "I had never been part of the team atmosphere and I think that helped me so much. I didn't realize it would affect me that much until we started going through the season when we had meet after meet after meet. They really helped me through everything." One advantage Utah holds going into nationals is that its entire freshmen group has been through just about everything this season. From competing in front of nearly 15,000 people at each home meet to claiming the Salt Lake Regional nearly two weeks ago, the freshmen have already been exposed to many situations they could find themselves faced with this weekend. Such exposure was by design. Coming into the season, coaches recognized the immense talent in their freshman class and have tried to help them develop veteranlike qualities by putting them in difficult situations. By doing so, they risked failure, but the freshmen have certainly pulled through in crucial circumstances. "This sounds cheesy, but I'm so glad I could be a part of their freshman year, because they've already done so much and I can't wait to see what they do in the next three years because they're so good," said senior Stephanie McAllister. Before they start thinking about the next three years, however, the freshmen will need to focus on helping their team post the scores necessary to put them into contention at nationals. "Until you've really experienced it for yourself it's hard to know exactly how it's all going to be," Marsden said. "So they are freshmen for one more weekend." r.mcdonald@ chronicle.utah.edu Softball Utah @ UCLA 7 p.m. Los Angeles, Calif. Gymnastics NCAA Championships 10 a.m. Duluth, Ga. Golf Aggie Invitational TBA College Station, Texas SATURDAY: Baseball Utah @ California 1 p.m. Berkeley, Calif Softball Utah @ UCLA 6 p.m. Los Angeles, Calif. Women's Tennis Utah vs. Colorado 11 a.m. Eccles Tennis Center PAC-12 STANDINGS MEN'S TENNIS Conf. Overall USC 6-0 25-0 UCLA 6-0 20-2 Stanford 4-2 14-7 California 4-2 11-9 Oregon 2-4 17-5 Washington 2-4 14-7 Utah 0-6 11-11 |