SALT LAKE CITY — Bill Kinneberg is a baseball guy. He’s been around the college game for 35 years now. As such, the coach of the Utah Utes has plenty of experiences to share. They include winning the Pac-12 championship in 2016.
This spring, though, Kinneberg and his team experienced something new. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Utes had their season end after just 13 games. Their Pac-12 opener at Arizona State on March 13 was next. A day earlier, though, the Pac-12 put a hold on play that later become a season-ending stoppage to spring sports by the NCAA.
Conference calls have kept Kinneberg somewhat busy at this point. Legislation, what the department is going to do, and Zoom calls with the team are taking place. So, too, is recruiting on the phones.
“Nobody else is in any different situation than the athletic department is, so every baseball (coach) in America is doing the same thing I’m doing right now. They’re staying home.” — Utah baseball coach Bill Kinneberg
All is taking place at home instead of the office. The Kinneberg family of four is catching up on such things as Netflix in the evening. They’re hunkered down and staying indoors for the most part.
“I know this is going to last a lot longer than people think and it’s going to get harder as we go,” Kinneberg said. “But we’ll try to manage. Nobody else is in any different situation than the athletic department is, so every baseball (coach) in America is doing the same thing I’m doing right now. They’re staying home.”
Major League Baseball isn’t playing, so there’s no games to watch on TV or attend.
“It is a weird period of time,” Kinneberg said. “I just keep saying this is really weird.”
Kinneberg recalls the buildup during the week leading up to the stoppage of play. Everyone knew something was going to change.
“You didn’t know exactly what or to the extent,” Kinneberg said.
The Utes (6-7) had just won the last two games of a series at Minnesota when things began to ramp up. When the NBA opted to shut down in the middle of the week because of virus concerns, the reality set in that college baseball would do so as well.
That Thursday (March 12), the Utes had a morning practice scheduled and then a bus ride to the airport for a weekend series at ASU. At around 10 a.m., though, word came down and a team meeting was held instead.
The situation was changing rapidly. Things were very fluid as some conferences planned to resume action on April 15.
Initially, the suspension of play was supposed to last for two weeks. However, it soon evolved into the season being canceled. Things grew more serious by the hour.
Kinneberg noted that it was shocking to everyone because no one knew the extent of the situation.
“Now you look back and you know exactly what’s going on and why it’s happening,” said Kinneberg, who added that it’s now understood and needed considering how the coronavirus outbreak has affected everybody.
“It’s terrible, but it’s not just impacting us,” he continued. “It’s impacting, basically, the whole world.”
The NCAA’s ultimate decision to shut things down is backed by Kinneberg.
“Absolutely. I mean look what’s going on. It’s changed the way we live for the next two or three months,” he said. “Hopefully we find a solution and people are safe again. It’s a scary deal.”
Utah ended the season with a 6-7 record and a two-game win streak. Prior to that, the Utes went 1-2 in series at UC Davis and UT Arlington and dropped outings to Saint Mary’s, Missouri and the Golden Gophers. Wins were recorded over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Kansas State.
Individual statistical leaders include junior outfielder Vinny Zavolta (.400 batting average, 11 runs, two homers, .720 slugging percentage); sophomore catcher Jayden Kiernan (16 hits, 11 RBIs); senior catcher Zack Moeller (four doubles); sophomore RHP David Watson (19 strikeouts); junior RHP Josh Giffins (2.08 ERA); sophomore RHP Dustyn Schramm (two saves); and sophomore RHP Justin Kelly (23.2 innings pitched).
It remains to be seen what happens to the collegiate careers of the four seniors on the team — Moeller, infielder Chase Fernlund, as well as left-handed pitchers Jacob Rebar and Kyle Robeniol.
The NCAA may grant an extra year of eligibility to all spring sport athletes impacted by the early end to the season.
Although Kinneberg said he’d like to have them all back, he’s not sure what the players want to do. Some of them have graduated and have been in the program for five years.
“We really don’t know what’s going to happen,” Kinneberg said. “We don’t know what our roster is going to be like next year. We don’t know what holds for those guys. So that’s going to be when the shock or the realization of how serious this thing is will come into play for our spring sport people.”