Boise State club baseball split their series against the Utah State Aggies this past weekend, going 1-1 on Saturday, April 11 before rain cancelled the finale slated for Sunday morning.
The scheduled three-game set opened on Saturday night at Jack Acree Field in Boise with the epitome of a dominant pitching matchup.
Both starters went the distance, with Utah State’s John Boer shoving seven shutout innings while allowing just three hits and earning the win. The righty threw 75 pitches, with a 65% strike percentage.
Bronco starter Nate McKenna tossed five scoreless before giving up the Aggies’ lone run on a sacrifice fly to Bryce Clements in the top of the sixth. He returned to the mound for the seventh, the final inning in college club ball, and recorded another scoreless frame before Boise State threatened but failed to tie the score in the bottom half of the inning, ultimately falling 1-0.
After the weekend, Boise State shortstop Sam Yeakley noted the team’s struggles with dugout presence this season, a possible factor in the loss to the constantly chattering Utah State Aggies.
“We’ve actually had a couple [of] issues this year with energy levels in the dugout — guys getting down in bad situations,” Yeakley said. “Recently, we’ve been trying to keep it up the entire game no matter what’s going on. It obviously worked at the plate [in game two].”
The team’s eight runs on 12 hits in the second game of the doubleheader back up that claim.
In a complete 180 from game one, the Bronco bats came to life for a slugfest, tearing up Aggie pitching all night. Eight players recorded at least one knock, with four putting up multi-hit games.
In game two, Boise State had strong starting pitching, this time resulting in a victory. Right-hander Vincent Massa threw a complete game, giving up one earned run on five hits while striking out three. He threw 89 pitches and faced only 24 batters.
Massa struck out the first batter he faced before getting the next two to ground out for a 1-2-3 first. In the bottom half, leadoff hitter Nate Proffitt took first base after getting plunked and advanced to second on a sac bunt by centerfielder Conner Hoskinson. Third baseman Nate Venneri then drove in Hoskinson on a two-strike single to put the Broncos up 1-0.
The score remained the same until Boise State rallied in the bottom of the third.
Mirroring their first inning, Hoskinson was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a bunt single by Venneri. Yeakley then singled to left to load the bases, followed by second baseman Tyler Schubert drawing a four-pitch walk to bring in Hoskinson.
A base hit to left by Wyatt Brimhall drove in Venneri and Yeakley, extending Boise State’s lead to 4-0.
First baseman Patrick Burch followed up by lacing a single into center to bring in Schubert, adding on another run to push the lead to five. Utah State briefly responded, scoring on a sac fly in the top of the fourth that gave the Aggies their lone run. A Sam Yeakley single drove in two more for the Broncos, putting them up 7-1 heading into the fifth.
A two-hit, two-RBI day for Yeakley, the shortstop spoke on what allowed him to have success at the plate.
“Against Utah State, I was seeing the ball pretty well. I was just sitting fastball and I got my pitch,” Yeakley said. “In the second game, I was a little out in front, but I used that to my advantage and drove it to the left side of the field.”
Nate Proffitt’s sac fly in the fifth capped the scoring for the Broncos. Afterwards, Massa returned to the bump and cruised through the final two innings to secure the 8-1 victory.
The pass-the-baton-style offensive outburst is reflective of what head coach Jeremy Branco calls the biggest strength of the team.
“Our biggest strength is the closeness of the team,” Branco said. “There’s very little ego, it’s the next-player-up mentality. The players really trust each other, and that extends off the field as well.”
The team now turns its attention to its upcoming series at Idaho State, April 18-19. With National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) regional playoffs around the corner, and Utah State already crowned conference champions, the Broncos look to secure the runner-up spot in the Northern Pacific East, which would qualify the team for regionals.
After Idaho State, the team faces Montana State at home, April 25-26. With the Grizzlies and Broncos neck-and-neck in the conference standings, the next two weekends down the stretch will prove to be pivotal in Boise State’s quest for an NCBA title.
