USUE Press Release
Utah State Eastern baseball picked up two wins against the Salt Lake Community College Bruins in West Jordan over the weekend.
The Eagles lost their opening game on Saturday afternoon by a score of 6-1.
Although the Eagles lost in the first game, the pitching of sophomore Jarod Lessar helped the Eagles the rest of the series. Lessar pitched in six innings and had six strikeouts while exposing the weaknesses and tendencies of the Bruins.
In game two of the series, the Eagles dominated the Bruins with a 12-0 win. Sophomore Lionel Colon picked up the win and struck out six batters while only allowing five hits.
Center fielder Chase Stratton brought in four runs while Jesse Rowley and Chandler Barkdull brought in three each in game two.
The Eagles picked up another win on Sunday in game three by a score of 6-2 with Stratton picking up the win on the hill.
Utah State Eastern head coach Scott Madsen said that his pitchers’ execution and game prep was the reason for their success against the Bruins.
“They did the prep work and they all knew we had a plan going in and they executed it. They followed the game plan perfect. They didn’t let the big guys beat us and attacked their hitters,” said Madsen.
The Eagles dropped game four of the series to split with the Bruins and move to 6-2 in conference play.
Madsen said that coming away from the Salt Lake series was big for them.
“It was giant. They are still a really good team but we are playing so well right now,” said Madsen.
The bats of USU Eastern also had a great weekend for Madsen, scoring 22 runs with 31 hits.
“Our whole team, 1-9, they battled and grinded out at-bats. We had the best weekend of two-strike hitting of the year so far,” said Madsen.
The Eagles will now shift their attention to one of the hottest teams in the country, College of Southern Nevada, who come to Price this weekend for a four-game series.
CSN is currently on a 18-game win streak and are ranked fourth in the country.
“They are on an 18-game win streak coming but the way our guys are playing and the preparation they are putting in, it should get us where we want to be,” said Madsen.
Shortstop Cole Fossat said the Eagles need to keep doing what they’re doing to take care of business against CSN.
“We got to stick to the same approach, go in and hit a fastball, get in and get right on top of them, stay hot I guess,” said Fossat.
First pitch of the first doubleheader for the Eagles will be this Friday at 1 p.m. with Saturday’s doubleheader beginning at noon on Saturday.
All four games will be broadcast on the Utah State Eastern Athletics YouTube channel.