OCR Text |
Show BY IAN SMITH /STAFF WRITER i.smith@chronicle.utah.edu A fter a tough week that included a thrashing at the hands of its archrival, Utah is ready to move on to its weekend set of games. The Utes travel to Texas this weekend for the UT rible defense. It was a combination of a lot of things:' Something the Utes will have to compensate for this says. "I feel like the pitching staff is comfortable with me back there too ... I kind of know the strengths and weak- weekend is the loss of starting catcher, AJ Young. In nesses of each pitcher and their tendencies and every- the game against BYU, Young suffered a concussion, thing. Each pitcher I feel 100 percent comfortable with:' Arlington Invitational where they will square off meaning he will be out for two to three weeks. Young is against UT Arlington on Friday, Abilene Christian on the newest member of the growing injury list for Utah, into the groove they had earlier in the season. Armijo Saturday, Missouri State on Sunday, and UT Arling- joining Braden Anderson, Dallas Carroll, and Tyler Yagi. stresses that players need to move on from mistakes, ton again on Monday. While Utah is still recovering from the beatdown they Stepping in forYoung will be senior Konnor Armijo, who was subbed in at backstop during the fifth inning against suffered against BYU, head coach Bill Kinneberg is the Cougars. Like any teammate would, Armijo feels bad happy to put the game behind them. for his fellow Ute but is excited to get more playing time. "We'll get through it today: Kinneberg says. "We'll talk "I've caught four games on a weekend before: After the rough loss, Utah is trying to get back not letting them turn into more errors to put the team in an even bigger hole. The Utes, however, don't want to confuse not making mistakes with being less aggressive. Utah is looking to stop waiting for things to happen, but rather go out on about it, and then we'll start practicing. We'll flush it Armijo says. "My body feels healthy and everything, so the diamond and make some plays. Armijo believes and move on:' it's definitely something I'm excited about and looking that if the team goes back to just having fun while play- forward to do:' ing, the results will be in their favor. Despite issues the pitching had against the Cougars, Kinneberg is a firm believer that the struggles seen in that game are not a sign of things to come. "[Tuesday] was an aberration: he says. "I believe our pitching is our strong point of our team and will be throughout the year. We got off on the wrong foot and played ter- Changing catchers could present a problem for "I think right now we just aren't playing loose," some pitchers, but Armijo feels he has a good con- Armijo says. "I think the biggest thing is just playing nection with each of the pitchers, which will make the with more confidence:' transition smooth. "I'm comfortable with the whole pitching staff; Armijo The game between Utah and UT Arlington is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. m 9 |