BERKELEY, Calif. - Feb. 20 - Southern Utah suffered defeats of 22-0 and 10-0 on the baseball diamond on Saturday afternoon as the Thunderbirds were swept in a three-game series with California.
In game one, Southern Utah gave up runs in bunches in the bottom of the third, fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth innings as California made the most of every opportunity to score 22 runs on 18 hits. SUU used five pitchers during the game, as starter Kyle Melling was given the loss in 3.1 innings while allowing seven runs (six earned) on four hits and four walks and two strikeouts.
The Thunderbirds had men on the corners in the top of the sixth inning as Marcus Romero was followed by Bucky Aona as the duo recorded a pair of two-out singles. Romero later advanced to third on a stolen base, but runs eluded the Thunderbirds as Taylor Shaw's ground ball ended the frame.
The bases were loaded for the T-Birds in the top of the ninth inning with one out, but no one was able to cross home plate for SUU as a strikeout and fly ball ended game one with a bagel on the board for the away team.
In game two, Southern Utah was only able to muster four hits as Aona, Brock Westphal, D.J. Andrade and Romero each recorded base knocks. However, California had the hot bats for the third consecutive game, recording ten runs on 20 hits, chasing SUU starter Kyle Hamman away after four innings of work where he allowed five runs (all earned) on 11 hits. Hamman did not allow a walk and did have four strikeouts and was followed by Kelsey Outram who threw the final two innings of the game, holding the Golden Bears scoreless, allowing one hit and recording one strikeout.
Southern Utah baseball will remain on the road during its next game when the Thunderbirds face the UNLV Rebels on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7:00 p.m.
