April 25, 2007

Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - After five innings of no-hit softball action, Utah State yielded one run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly and lost to Utah, 1-0, Wednesday afternoon at Ute Field. Senior pitcher Jill Bruins had an Aggie career day, logging a career-high six strikeouts while only giving up two hits.

Bruins had tallied only six strikeouts in her previous 10 appearances this season, and had just 19 K's in 34 appearances prior to this season, but was on her A-game Wednesday.

Utah State out-hit Utah 5-2, as the Utes' two hits came on consecutive infield hits in the sixth, followed by a sacrifice bunt and intentional walk, then a sacrifice fly to center to score their only run.

USU had its three-game win streak snapped in sliding to 17-28 overall

Utah won for the second time in three games while improving to 22-20-1.

The Aggies lost to the Utes for the third time in a row and Utah has won 12 of the last 13 meetings in improving to 82-53 all-time vs. Utah State.

Junior 3B Amy Schaible opened the game with a single to center, and advanced to third, but was left stranded.

Bruins set the Utah side down in order in the home half of the first on three pop ups to junior SS Tara Evans. In the Utes' second, Bruins got all three outs on looking strikeouts, followed by two swinging strikeouts in the third.

Sophomore 1B Aubrie Stroman had a one out single in the fourth, and freshman Emily Reilly pinch ran for Stroman. After Evans moved Reilly to second with a sac bunt, Reilly stole third, but the rally ended with a groundout.

In the Aggies' fifth, freshman 2B Nicole Rupp hit a shot that Utah leftfielder Meghan Crouse snagged while colliding with the fence.

Bruins had her no-hit bid broken up in the top of the sixth on back-to-back bunts by Utah's Kelly Matthew and Diana Phillips with no outs. A sac bunt moved the runners to second and third and brought Ute slugger Hailey Davenport to the plate, who is tied for the team-lead with 14 home runs on the year.

Bruins intentionally walked her to load the bases and Staci Hemingway stepped in. Hemingway hit a towering fly ball to center where USU senior CF Ashley Bellum caught the can of corn at the warning track for the sacrifice fly RBI. The threat ended with another fly out to center by Andrea Hoffman.

USU opened the seventh with a ground out, followed by a Texas leaguer single to left center by Evans. Senior Jami Uragami pinch hit but stuck out swinging. With junior C Heather Haak at the plate, Evans tried to steal second, but was thrown out to end the game.

It was just the second time this season in 15 tries that Evans had been thrown out. Evans swiped 10 bases before getting thrown out for the first time of the year last Tuesday at Utah Valley State.

Stroman extended her hitting streak to four games, the longest current streak with a single in the fourth, one of USU's five hits. Schaible was 2-3, while Evans and Haak had the other two hits.

Utah State concludes its six games in five days stretch by hosting Hawai'i in a three-game Western Athletic Conference series this weekend, with a single game Friday at 3 p.m., followed by a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m., at LaRee and LeGrand Johnson Field, the Aggies' final three home games of the season.

Saturday is "Senior Day" as USU will honor its seven seniors prior to the start of the twinbill.

Admission to all of USU's home games at Johnson Field is free to the public.