SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah baseball team defeated Washington State on Sunday by a 12-11 score, completing a three-game sweep over the Cougars at Smith’s Ballpark. It is Utah’s first sweep over the Cougars in the Pac-12 era and the team’s first sweep of a Pac-12 opponent since the 2017 season.
In a back-and-forth game with an edge-of-your-seat feel throughout the contest, Jayden Kiernan broke a 10-10 tie in the fifth inning with a leadoff homer that snuck inside the right field foul pole for his third big fly of the year. Later in the fifth, Matt Flaharty sped around the bases for his first triple as a Ute, driving in Karson Bodily for what proved to be the game-deciding run.
Washington State cut the Utes’ lead in half on a sac fly during the sixth inning, but from there Jaden Harris, Micah Ashman and Zac McCleve closed the door. McCleve logged his third save of the season and 12th as a Ute, the latter tying McCleve with Robert Chimpky (2008-09) for third-most in recorded program history.
Randon Hostert (2-2) earned the win, entering the game during a crucial stretch in the middle innings. Harris struck out three during his 1.2-inning outing, Ashman fired a scoreless inning of work, before McCleve entered with one out in the ninth and the tying run at second. Unfazed, the submariner from nearby West Valley struck out both batters he faced on three pitches each. It finished off a day that saw both teams work deep into their bullpens with eight pitchers working…
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