It's all about postseason position when BYU and Utah square off in a three-game series at Franklin Covey Field. The Cougars (20-33, 8-13) and Utes (22-24, 9-12) are locked in battle with UNLV (20-33, 8-13) for the No. 4 seed in next week's Mountain West Conference Tournament in Fort Worth.
TCU (36-16, 16-5), New Mexico (32-20, 16-5) and San Diego State (30-23, 16-8) have already locked up the top three spots, while Air Force (16-32, 2-19) is out of the tournament mix as the seventh-place team. BYU, Utah and UNLV, which travels to Air Force this week, are jockeying for the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds.
The Utes are currently in the driver's seat and can hold onto the No. 4 spot with a sweep of BYU.
"We have successfully put ourselves in position to get a higher seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament," said Utah coach Bill Kinneberg. "And we want to be in the highest seed possible in the postseason."
BYU and Utah both hold tiebreakers over UNLV, so victories are at a premium in this series as the seeding process is sorted out.
"We need to go up to Utah and take care of business and gain some momentum to go into the tournament, said BYU coach Vance Law."
The Thursday and Friday games will start at 6 p.m., while Saturday's first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Free tickets are available at www.utahutes.com.
MWC baseball
Pitching match-ups in the regular season-ending series between BYU and Utah at Franklin Covey Field.
THURSDAY, 6 p.m.: BYU LHP Jake Wortham (4-4, 6.75 ERA) and Utah RHP Stephen Fife (6-4, 3.29 ERA).
FRIDAY, 6 p.m.: BYU RHP Blake Torgerson (5-4, 7.05 ERA) and Utah RHP Brian Budrow (5-5, 3.68 ERA).
SATURDAY, 1 p.m.: BYU RHP Jordan Muir (2-6, 6.26 ERA) and Utah RHP John James (3-6, 5.90 ERA).