You can tell this season people are believing in what we’re doing and are really committed to everything that’s going on. – Cody Scaggari
SALT LAKE CITY — There’s been a lot of talk in the sports world the last few days about the amazing rise of the Leicester football club in England, which despite 5,000-1 odds has clinched the English Premier League title this year.
Right here in the Beehive State, a similar story is unfolding with the Utah baseball team.
The Utes, who have been to exactly one NCAA baseball tournament since 1960 and have been the doormat of the Pac-12 Conference since joining the league with four straight last-place finishes, find themselves in quite the implausible position.
Would you believe, first place?
That’s right, the Utes are tied with Washington at the top of the Pac-12 standings at 11-7, nearly two-thirds of the way through the season and ahead of those warm-weather, traditional baseball powers such as Arizona State, Arizona, UCLA and USC.
The Utes have a good chance to hang on to the top spot with three games this weekend at last-place Washington State, followed by three games against 10th-place Stanford next week at home.
While the Utes are the first to acknowledge there’s a long way to go in the season, they’re enjoying the ride so far.
Senior shortstop Cody Scaggari, the team’s leading hitter at .318, has been through the tough times but isn’t too surprised by the team’s success this year.
“The program has definitely developed in the time I’ve been here and has grown a lot,” he said. “The big thing is us sticking to the process and paying attention to the details and just believing in ourselves. You can tell this season people are believing in what we’re doing and are really committed to everything that’s going on.”
Coach Bill Kinneberg, who is in his 13th season at Utah, believes it’s just been a matter of time for his program to catch up the rest of the Pac-12.
“Many of our players have been here two, three, some of them four years,” he said. “They endured getting into the Pac-12 and knowing what it’s like and have turned into really good baseball players. I think what’s happened is we have a mixture of real veteran guys and a really good group of young kids that have meshed together and have played really well.”
Kinneberg said his team had high expectations heading into this season after losing just two seniors from a year ago. Players like Scaggari, catcher A.J. Young, second baseman Kody Davis and designated hitter Kellen Marruffo are seniors, along with pitcher Dalton Carroll.
The Utes have a bunch of juniors such as outfielder Josh Rose, infielders Dallas Carroll and Hunter Simmons and relief pitcher Dylan Drachler, who have contributed this year as well as sophomore pitchers Jayson Rose and Josh Lapiana and outfielder Andre Jackson.
They also have a freshman from San Diego, DaShawn Keirsey Jr., who has stepped up and become the starter in center field. Keirsey is an example of the type of player the Utes are attracting in the Pac-12. He said he had a chance to go to USC or UCLA, but chose Utah.
“I immediately fell in love with it here and felt like I was at home,” he said. “I could have gone other places, but they told me I had a fighting chance to play this year, so I felt like this was the best fit for me.”
While it may be shocking to many that the Utes are competing so well this year, Kinneberg says it's partly the way the college baseball landscape is these days. It used to be that the warm-weather schools from California, Arizona, Louisiana and Florida were the dominant teams. However, the past two NCAA champions were Vanderbilt and Virginia, while Oregon State won a pair of NCAA titles in the past decade.
“I think college baseball has changed a little bit with more parity,” Kinneberg said. “There’s no doubt warm-weather schools still have an advantage early in the year, but I think you’re seeing more and more parity, with schools north of the Mason-Dixon Line wanting to be good in baseball.”
He said NCAA rules on scholarships, starting date, number of games, etc., have evened the playing field somewhat in baseball. While acknowledging it’s not the same as playing outside, Kinneberg praised Utah’s “great indoor facility” it shares with the football team for “helping get us ready to play.”
As well as the Utes have played in the Pac-12, they’ve struggled in non-league contests, going just 5-16. Kinneberg said the Utes played as poorly as they could have the first month of the season and haven’t had enough depth at pitching to win midweek games against the likes of BYU and UVU in recent weeks.
Because of their poor overall record, the Utes will not get an NCAA at-large bid with a high finish, even though about half of the Pac-12 schools make it to the baseball regionals most years. However, if the Utes can stay atop the standings, they’ll earn an automatic berth to the NCAAs.
If they keep playing well, the league championship could come down to the final weekend when co-leader Washington pays a visit to Salt Lake May 27-29.
“That would be awesome,’’ says Kinneberg, but it’s the furthest thing from his mind right now.
“We still have 12 games to go,” he said “Our main focus is Friday and Saturday at Washington State.”
Even freshman Keirsey understands that, saying, “We’ve got to keep our foot on the pedal and can’t be satisfied with anything yet.”