A final league series between BYU and Utah in baseball starts Thursday night in Salt Lake City at Spring Mobile Ballpark as play begins this week in the Mountain West Conference.
BYU (8-7) travels to Utah (4-7) for what also could decide this year’s overall outcome in the Deseret Duel between the two schools. On Thursday BYU’s starting pitcher will be sophomore Taylor Cole (2-1, 1.75), followed by sophomore Chris Capper (0-2, 4.71) on Friday—both games start at 6 p.m. On the mound for the Cougars in Saturday’s 1 p.m. game is junior Matthew Neil (1-0, 2.25).
“Any time we play Utah it’s always a big series,” said BYU coach Vance Law. “Our conference should be strong this year, but our increased pitching depth gives us a much better chance to compete.”
The Utah series also marks the start of Cougar baseball being broadcast live by Radio 960 AM with Brent Norton calling the play-by-play for his 21st season with BYU baseball.
These are the first of four games between BYU and Utah--the first three are MWC games in Salt Lake City, while the April 19 game is a non-conference tilt in Provo. There are 4.5 points at stake in this week’s three-game series, which factors in the annual Deseret First Duel. BYU can pick up enough points to claim the Deseret First Duel trophy with two wins in the series. BYU won the first and third overall duel competitions.