Photo by Linsey Craig
On Wednesday morning, I looked through my Twitter feed and saw that KSL Sportsbeat had posted a tweet regarding the outcome of the Utah-BYU baseball game played on Tuesday night at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City. I opened the article and the first sentence read as follows: “It’s been a great year for BYU and Utah in college baseball.”
When I read that, all I started thinking about was the UVU baseball team and why they were not included in that phrase. After all, the Wolverines defeated Utah three times to sweep the season series. They also defeated BYU at Larry H. Miller Field on May 3.
Let me point out a few other things before you decide which side of this argument you are on. UVU is 30-21 on the season, including 7-2 against Pac-12 Conference opponents. Utah is 21-25 and BYU is 34-15. All three schools have identical 15-9 records in conference play. However, Utah sits in first place in the Pac-12 standings, BYU sits in second in the WCC and UVU is third in the WAC.
I know that KSL is more in favor of writing articles related to BYU and Utah. That is their choice. But considering that Utah is 1-6 against in-state schools, has an overall losing record on the season and got swept by UVU, why is there not more written about the Wolverine baseball team? When UVU defeated the Utes on in extra innings on April 19, there wasn’t an article posted about the game. Why not? Isn’t it a huge accomplishment for a school from a lesser-known conference to defeat and sweep a team from a power conference? I think that is absolutely newsworthy.
Yes, UVU plays in the lowly WAC that nobody really pays much attention to. And yes, they don’t have as much athletic tradition as BYU or Utah. But with a group of seniors, including shortstop Greyson Bogden who leads the WAC in doubles and Craig Brinkerhoff who is second in the WAC in home runs, more media outlets should jump on board the UVU baseball bandwagon. It has been a special year for the Wolverines, but it isn’t over yet as winning the WAC tournament next weekend is a reality for a group of special young men.
