Utah Utes baseball: U. happy with surprise transfer

He doesn't wear one when he pitches and, in fact, the pair of them are put away somewhere in a drawer back home in Arizona right now.

Still, Utah pitcher Brian Budrow is perhaps the only player in the history of college baseball in Utah who can claim he owns two championship rings for winning the College World Series.

Budrow was a member of the champion Oregon State baseball teams that won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007. Now he's pitching for the Utes and leading the team with 61 strikeouts and had a sparkling 2.89 earned run average until a rough outing over the weekend.

Utah coach Bill Kinneberg, who is best friends with Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona and has contacts all over the country, got a call from Oregon State coach Pat Casey last summer telling him about Budrow, who was looking to transfer after not seeing much action.

"It was one of those deals where I was glad to answer the phone," said Kinneberg. "We received a heck of a pitcher and a heck of a kid."

Budrow decided to transfer to Utah sight unseen. Despite growing up in nearby Arizona, Budrow said he had never been to Utah before arriving last fall.

"I left there looking for a place where I could help contribute to a team and get more playing time," Budrow said. "All summer I was looking for a place to play. I got a call from (Utah assistant) coach (Bryan) Conger asking if I was interested in coming here. It sounded like the right place to go."

Out of Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale, Budrow hadn't been highly recruited, but he was offered a scholarship at Oregon State, which was just on the cusp of its current success. However he only ended up getting a couple of starts and less than a dozen innings in two years.

While he enjoyed Oregon State and its campus, Budrow is happy he made the move.

"It was fun while I was there, but I've had a lot more fun here," he said. "It's a beautiful city and so far I love it here."

Since coming to Utah, Budrow has changed his pitching style from a hard-throwing over-the-top pitcher with a curveball to a clever sinker-slider pitcher, who tries to out-maneuver his opponent.

"I've kind of re-invented myself as a pitcher," he said. "I've started to throw a slider and sinker and I'm more adept at the mental side of pitching, setting guys up to beat them later in the count. I've completely changed since the time I was at Oregon State. It's easier to get people out the way I throw now."