OCR Text |
Show DAI LY UTAH CHRONICLE Monday, March 17, 2014 9 BASEBALL Oregon State outscores Utah 19-2 Ian Smith STAFF WRITER icer-:_L$HUP TER EM:MA ECC ,ecT,I,ON• 'MARCY JONES C6ii.R9AOR! \ Sam and Diane Stewart Foundation • CUAC Contempo rary Art • Steven G. and Susan E. Denkers Family Foundation Natural History Museum of Utah • Morton Salt • Sushi Groove • Preston Chiaro • Bing and Judy Fang • US Bank Private Client Reserve ii WESTM STER g Great Salt Lake tote nr 114rc Ltis, .1. 3o 1840 SOUTH 1300 EAST, SALT LAKE CITY For a disability accommodation, contact the School of Arts and Sciences at 801.832.2300 five business days prior to the event, . I 1■11, 1111111 AMERICA FIRST 1\ ■'s Spring Break wasn't so springy for Utah when it welcomed No. 4 Oregon State to Smith's Ballpark. Despite having a home-field advantage, the Utes were unable to add any wins to their record, losing all three games of the weekend to the Beavers. Opening up Pac-12 play, Oregon State took it to the Utes by not only winning the games but outscoring Utah by a combined score of 19-2. "That is a quality team," said head coach Bill Kinneberg. "We didn't have much to counter with their pitching. Early in the game we continued to be behind in the count, and they took advantage of that. We haven't shown that all year long." Despite the final score, 6-i, game one started off as a dogfight. The two teams were in a pitching duel, recording only one run between the teams, until a fiverun sixth inning put the Beavers ahead for good. Utah was held hitless until the eighth inning when catcher Konnor Armijo got on base with a single. The Utes finally got on the board when freshman infielder Hunter Simmons hit a single to bring Armijo home. Starting pitcher Mitch Watrous allowed nine hits while striking out four in six innings. Saturday's game saw Oregon State get an early lead and hold on until the end. The Utes, already down by five runs, were only able to muster up one run yet again. Senior infielders TJ Bennett, Cory Hunt and sophomore catcher AJ Young all went 2-for-4 at the plate, with Young driving in the lone run. Sophomore pitcher Bret Helton got the start on the mound, pitching four innings and striking out five. Despite the four-run deficit, the Utes were holding strong and kept the Beavers honest. Utah had plenty of opportunities, collecting nine hits on the day, but was not able to take advantage as it left nine ERIN BURNS/The Daily Utah Chronicle Freshman Dylan Drachler pitches at last weekend's game. runners on base. In game three, it seemed the long weekend left the Utes without any steam. Oregon State came out swinging, taking a 3-o lead after the first inning. The Beavers only expanded on that lead, shutting out Utah 8-o by the game's end. "You get three hits today [Sunday's game] and score two runs in three ball games — [that] is not a good effort offensively," Kinneberg said. "We have to get off to a better start than that." Senior Tanner Banks gave up six runs on six hits, recording only one strike out. Josh Chapman came in for relief in the fourth inning, but the loss was given to Banks. Two more pitchers made appearances in the game, as the Utes struggled to contain the Oregon State batters. The lone bright spot for Utah's offense was senior Braden Anderson, who went 2-for-3 with the bat, including a double. "I think we are better than we showed this weekend," Anderson said. "We just got to get in some extra swings on our own ... I think we are going to comeback Tuesday night and have a big night and put up some runs." The Utes will next compete Tuesday night against UVU at Smith's Ballpark. The game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. i.smith@chronicle.utah.edu COLUMN It's March, so let the madness begin GRIFFIN ADAMS I APR More flexible terms. More affordable, payments. More enjoyable ale-ekends. 405232127444, Over 100 branch locations americafirst.com Ell Equal Opportunity Lender. 1320 E. 200 S. 582-0195 www.thepie.com Downtown Delivery 300 S.1300 E. 582-5700 t's that time of year again, and I'm already starting to feel the effects. The brackets are out, the regions are set and every college basketball fan's mind is now racing. There is a reason this season has become known as March Madness. It is absolute pandemonium. Between the upsets, buzzer beaters and Cinderella stories, the NCAA Tournament has become the most entertaining event in basketball and, quite frankly, in all of sports. Before you start to fill out your brackets, here are some tips to keep in mind: The most important rule to remember while putting together your bracket is that your "real" or "serious" bracket will always suck. That's just the way the college basketball gods like to have it. All the top teams are top teams for a reason and should make their way to the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight or Final Four, right? False. There has only been MeV af/Prdei MI/ 7 f V El Asst. Sports Editor one time in the history of the Tournament, when Kansas won the title in zoo8, in which all the No. i seeds made it to the Final Four. That said, there have only been two times in history in which no No. i seeds made the Final Four. Yeah, I'm confused, too. Personally, I hate the top teams and will always cheer for the underdogs. Is that necessarily the smartest thing to do when filling out a bracket? No, but don't count out some of the lower seeds or mid-majors. In the past two seasons, a No. 15 seed has upset a No. 2 seed three times. Some may remember Florida Gulf Coast and its magical run to the Sweet Sixteen last season as a 15 seed, but the thing is, there is a team like that every year. That's the tricky part of picking a bracket — who will be this year's Cinderella? It's easy to pick the top teams against inferior opponents, but picking the one team that will upset supposedly superior talent is the real challenge. Remember, when picking a Cinderella team, look at experience. It is hard enough for a team with the most highly touted freshmen to make a deep run in the Tournament, but now imagine a mid-major team trying to do it. They need to have some experienced players and good coaching. Another tip that may prove helpful is looking at the last io games of the regular season, including a team's respective conference tournament. Teams that play well at the end of the season tend to carry that momentum into the tournament, which could ultimately lead to an upset or championship run. Will any of these tips work? There's a good chance everything I have told you will be extremely wrong and your bracket will be the worst in your pool. That's the beauty of March Madness, though. Truthfully, no matter how dumb a bracket may look, everyone has a shot. A few years back, I had a friend who knows nothing about basketball and picked the entire bracket solely based off the team's colors. Her eventual champion was Florida, and guess who won the Championship that year? Yup, the Gators. Whether you choose statistically, analytically or just by a team's mascot, it truly does not matter. Fill out a bracket or two or io, because chances are that no matter how smart you think you are, your bracket will still have a ton of red on it, and you will lose a lot of money. g.adams@chronicle.utah.edu JOB POSTING Wei GROUP LEADERS (10.15 kids) for SLC School District After School program 19.5 hrsiwk; M-TH 2:30.5:30/6pm and Fridays 12:30-5:30/6pm. Start at $9.50 per hour. Send resume to: heidi.clark@ slcschools.org or call 578.8275 our GINORMOUS 23" pizza is bound to be the life of any party! 16 slices feeds up to 10 people |