#25 Utes shocking college baseball world this season

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) – Almost nobody thought the Utes baseball team would be able to even contend for the final Pac-12 championship this season.

But the Utes are doing more than contending — they’re leading.

Picked to finish 10th in the preseason Pac-12 poll, the Utes have shocked the college baseball world, and are tied for first place with Arizona nine games to go.

“I think we play with a really big chip on our shoulder,” said outfielder Kai Roberts about the preseason snub. “Just looking around, we don’t have the facilities that other Pac-12 schools have. None of us turned down money out of high school for the [MLB] draft. None of us were preseason All-Americans, and I think that really just fueled our fire.”

“It’s definitely motivation,” said relief pitcher Randon Hostert. “Seeing that and knowing the group of guys that we’ve got and the experience and the talent we’ve got, we knew we had a shot at a special year.”

The Utes have lost just one Pac-12 series all year. They just swept UCLA for the first time, and for the local guys like Skyridge High’s Kai Roberts, who is hitting .364 with a school-record 28 stolen bases, and Westlake High grad Bryson Van Sickle, who leads the starters with a 2.62 ERA, this season has been extra special.

“It’s been awesome growing up and coming here,” said Roberts, who leads the Utes with 48 RBI. “As a freshman, we weren’t very good, and to see the program turn around like this has been one of my favorite memories of my life.”

Yeah, it does make it special,” said Van Sickle, who is 3-0 on the year. “Growing up here, watching them for years, and now being on the team, it’s amazing.”

So what changed from a team that went 22-32-1 last year, to a team that’s 29-13, 14-7 in the Pac-12 and ranked #25 in the nation? Team chemistry.

“Yeah, that is huge,” said Hostert, who has appeared in 21 games this season. “We’re around each other every day for a couple of hours. Being around guys that we like and enjoy being around, it’s been big. It keeps things light, keeps things fun, and we all want to play for each other.”

“It’s the last year of the Pac-12,” said TJ Clarkson, who leads the team with nine home runs. “So we’re trying to go out strong. It’s been a while since we won it, so that’s the goal right now.”

Utah last made the NCAA Tournament in 2016 when it has a miraculous run through the Pac-12 Tournament. They also made it in 2009 with a strong finish in the Mountain West Tournament. But before that, you have to go back to 1957 to find the last Utah baseball team to make the NCAA Tournament.

As the first Utah team ever to crack the top-25, they’re chances are great, but they know they still have work to do.

“It’s cool to see,” Roberts said about the ranking. “But I think it’d be even cooler to end up in a regional or with a Pac-12 championship.”

“This validates the things that you sell to your kids and the program that you put together,” said third year head coach Gary Henderson. “The foundation that you lay, it’s just a little bit of validation. We’ve got some more games to play, but it is nice to be noticed.”

Utah plays three games at Oregon this weekend, before a potential first place showdown with Arizona May 10-12 at Smith’s Ballpark.

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