Utah Utes baseball: Shimada, Utes hoping for run
A year ago, the Utah Utes had a successful run in the Mountain West Conference baseball tournament. They went 3-2 in the double-elimination competition, knocking off BYU by a 9-3 score, UNLV (7-4) and San Diego State (1-0). The latter came against pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the projected No. 1 pick in this year's MLB Draft.
Utah's only setbacks came against top seeds TCU (6-3) and New Mexico (8-2).
As a No. 5 seed, the Utes exceeded expectations.
Now comes the encore, this time as a No. 6. They'll face No. 3 BYU Tuesday in Fort Worth.
"I hope the same thing happens," said Utah coach Bill Kinneberg. "If we get the right draw, the right situation, yeah, we can make some noise this week."
Among those leading the charge is senior Corey Shimada. The second baseman from Murray is determined to finish his collegiate career on a high note.
"I definitely think we can finish off strong at the Mountain West Conference tournament," Shimada said. "We are definitely playing our best baseball this later half of the season. So we're definitely coming in hot."
At 21-28 overall and 8-16 in conference play, the Utes can salvage a frustrating campaign with a good showing this week.
"There's no doubt in my mind that the University of Utah baseball program can definitely contend for a Mountain West Conference championship in the near future," Shimada said. "We have a lot of good freshmen coming in and they really contributed a lot this year."
Contributions are something Shimada knows a thing or two about. Since arriving at Utah, he's appeared in 206 games (starting 200) — racking up 241 hits, 210 runs, 139 RBI, 52 stolen bases, 42 doubles, 25 homers and 20 triples.
"Corey was really my first signee when I got here. So he's kind of special to me," said Kinneberg, who began his second stint at the helm of Utah's program in 2004. "He's been a tremendous player here for four years. We are really going to miss him. He's going to be a hard one to replace."
Shimada, he continued, is a complete college baseball player offensively — blending speed with a good average and pop in his swing.
"I like setting the table and creating stuff for our offense," said the lead-off hitter. "It's fun."
The finance major, who is one semester from graduating, has enjoyed his tenure on and off the field at Utah.
"These four years have gone by really fast," Shimada said. "It's been a great experience playing baseball as well as going to college."
The local product has no regrets about playing for Utah, where he hopes to take the job to the professional ranks.
"It's great being able to stay close to home so my family and friends could watch me play some games," Shimada said. "Coach Kinneberg has really built this program from the ground up. So it's been a good run."
One, no doubt, that Shimada and the Utes would really like to extend this week.
E-MAIL: dirk@desnews.com
Recent comments
Hey TCU FAN!!!,,,, can you say loser...
SoYou'reSayingWhat | May 24, 2009 at 1:40 a.m.
to NEWS FLASH | 1:10 a.m. May 20, 2009
Cherry picking your sports?...
Anonymous | May 20, 2009 at 9:18 p.m.
you know what they say about counting your chickens before they...
great day | May 20, 2009 at 1:11 a.m.
- License office to open Fridays 10:10 p.m.
- Sports briefs 10:10 p.m.
- Giant carp could reach Great Lakes 10:08 p.m.
- Kids talk to astronaut in space 10:07 p.m.
- Ban on foreign waste gets OK 10:04 p.m.
- Classmates mourn crash victim 10:03 p.m.
- Wisconsin beats No. 6 Duke 10:03 p.m.
- New details in Roy double slaying 10:02 p.m.
- BYU prof a 'Top Global Thinker' 10:01 p.m.
- Zion seeks volunteers for bird count 9:59 p.m.
- Why is Y. ignoring spew of hatred?
- Unbeaten BYU takes trip to Logan
- Mitchell said to share LeBaron traits
- BCS just keeps dirty laundry on spin
- Teen girl killed in Kaysville crash
- Utahns growing tired of Bennett
- 2 citations issued at Y.-U. game
- Orem pair getting a rep for crime
- MWC awaits bowl destinations
- Simple candies for the holidays
- Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
913 - Cougars beat Utes in overtime
483 - Hall reprimanded by MWC
405 - Max Hall issues apology
391 - Hall's pain reflects self-betrayal
358 - Utes won't respond to Hall
277 - BYU says Hall incident resolved
244 - Why is Y. ignoring spew of hatred?
232 - 2 citations issued at Y.-U. game
177 - Religion in politics is tiresome
154
I arrived at the Spectrum a little more than an hour before tipoff and...
I agree on Rich and Piute, but idk about Panguitch, remember they lost to...
Great win Aggies. I was worried the first half. There's no need to fear...
Anae shut Max down more than the U defense...but we'll take the 3pt win...
The Spectrum..... THE BEST FANS IN THE WORLD!!!!!
Congratulations to the Miller family for re-signing Coach Sloan. I've been a...
the threat yrs ago was someones bag they left and had his alarm colock in it...
This is wonderful, first BYU beats UTAH in Football and now WEBER beats the...
Good win for the Aggies. Fans needs to downplay the whole inferiority complex...
I am totally shocked that you all would justify what was said. And you call...
Not a big deal...losing in Logan was expected. It would have been a bigger...


