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By Jose Briseno, Castle Country Radio:

The Utah State Eastern baseball team ended their season with a 19-34 record, and a 10-year best 15-23 record in conference play. The Eagles played their final game of the season on May 12 in a loss to Colorado Northwestern Community College in the Region 18 conference tournament.

Freshman Jake Mortensen led the team with a .337 batting average while sophomore Gabe Childs finished just behind him at .331, both were good enough, statistically, for a top-10 finish in the conference. Mortensen also led the team in hits while Childs led the team in stolen bases and extra base hits. Childs also led the conference in doubles with 15 on the year. Freshman Vaughn Deming led the team with 27 RBIs while sophomore Ty Barker led the team with five home runs.

USU Eastern had a plethora of arms that anchored the pitching staff. Hayden Brock and Kody Nelson brought veteran experience on the mound that showed throughout the season. Nelson led the pitching staff in wins, as Brock led the team in strikeouts, complete games, and innings pitched. Brock finished the season with 103 strikeouts (best in conference), four complete games and 68.1 innings pitched. Carson Hawkes, a freshman, came into his own this season as well. Hawkes posted at team-low 3.73 ERA and recorded a no-hitter on Apr. 16.

Individual accomplishments aside, the Eastern baseball team did something they hadn’t done in over a decade. Entering the 2021-2022 season, the most wins USU Eastern had in SWAC play was 14 back in 2018. This season, Eastern finished 15-23, their best conference record in the last decade.
“That’s a big thing for us,” head coach Kirk Haney said. “We’ve told our guys that we are trying to get better every year. Last year we had some of the most wins in the last ten years of our program history. This year we wanted to make a little bit more of a splash in conference and I think we set ourselves up. We had a great preseason with some tough teams and it showed what we could do during conference play.”

A roster that had 26 freshmen and just two sophomores, the Eagles will have an experienced team returning next year to improve on their already historic season.

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