SALT LAKE CITY — Utah baseball opens its season Friday afternoon at UC Davis. The teams will also play Saturday and Sunday before the Utes visit Saint Mary’s on Monday.
“It’s been a good, long six months of training. So it’s time to play somebody different and play for real,” said Utah coach Bill Kinneberg. “So we’re looking forward to it.”
In preparation for the season, the Utes spent two weekends in the warmer climate of St. George — getting in six days of practices.
Sophomore Justin Kelly is scheduled to be Utah’s starting pitcher in the season opener. The right-hander from Copper Hills High School missed all of last season after Tommy John surgery.
Kelly is part of a pitching staff that Kinneberg describes as a mix of experience and youth. Senior lefty Kyle Robeniol is back from an ACL injury that caused him to miss half of last season. Sophomore right-hander David Watson and junior Riley Pierce will likely round out the starters on the opening trip.
Sophomore right-handers Zac McCleve and Dustyn Schramm return to the bullpen. McCleve was the closer last season and Schramm pitched a lot of innings.
Utah has some younger guys as well — freshmen right-handers T.J. Clarkson and Sean Bolin — that will also see action.
“The pitching is a little bit of a mixed bag,” said Kinneberg, who added that the staff is looking forward to the season-opening series to kind of see everybody and see how they react to start defining roles.
The Utes have a lot of position players back that Kinneberg noted were mainstays in the lineup a year ago. Senior catcher Zack Moeller, junior first baseman Shea Kramer, junior third baseman Rykker Tom and sophomore outfielder Briley Knight leading the way.
Senior infielder Chase Fernlund and junior shortstop Matt Richardson are also experienced veterans. Freshman Kayler Yates is among the top newcomers.
“We’re much more veteran. We’re much more seasoned, I guess, on the offensive side than we are on the pitching side,” Kinneberg said. “But there’s 12 or 13 guys that are kind of vying for time and vying for a starting spot, so it’s kind of important in the next two or three weeks that we get a look at everybody and they get some experience, and see how it all translates at that point.”
Utah begins the season with 16 games at road or neutral sites. The home opener is March 17 against Utah Valley.
The Utes were projected to finish 10th in the Pac-12 preseason coaches poll. They were 16-33 overall (6-24 in conference) in 2019.
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2020 Utah baseball schedule
FEBRUARY: 14-16 — at UC Davis; 17 — at Saint Mary’s; 21 — at Texas A&M Corpus Christi; 22 — Missouri (at Corpus Christi); 23 — Kansas State (at Corpus Christi); 28-29 — at UT Arlington.
MARCH: 1 — at UT Arlington; 6-8 — at Minnesota; 13-15 — at Arizona State; 17 — UTAH VALLEY; 20-22 — NEVADA; 24 — at BYU; 27-29 — UCLA; 31 — at Boise State.
APRIL: 3-5 — at California; 9-11 — at Oregon; 14 — BOISE STATE; 17-19 — OREGON STATE; 21 — at BYU; 24-26 — at Washington State.
MAY: 1-3 — WASHINGTON; 5 — at Utah Valley; 8-10 — STANFORD; 12 — BYU; 15-17 — at USC; 21-23 — ARIZONA.