Utah State and Boise State took the field at Dona Larsen Park on Sunday afternoon with the Broncos eyeing in on one goal – sweep the Aggies and continue to control first place in the Mountain West.
The result was the same as the two games prior. The Broncos forced a run rule victory on Utah State for the third day in a row, bucking the Aggies back to Logan with an 11-3 victory in four and a half innings while completing the series sweep.
“Today they showed up and they brought it from the very beginning of batting practice,” Coach Justin Shults said. “You could just tell it was a different vibe … I knew we were going to have to chip away and grind stuff out but we handled the strike zone and good things happened.”
The Aggies took an early 3-0 lead over Taylor Caudill and Boise State before the Broncos responded in the bottom of the second with an avalanche of runs, changing the whole complexion of the game.
Sydney Groves got things started with a single up the middle before the Broncos would rally for six (yes, SIX) walks in a row to give Boise State a 4-3 lead. Mykenzie Hanna followed to score on a wild pitch while Serena Huchingson scored on a sacrifice fly in the same at bat, extending Boise State’s lead to 6-3.
The Broncos finished with a combined 10 walks and had eight different players record an RBI in the contest.
“We expect them to be great every single at bat in terms of competing, not necessarily the results,” Shults said. “I think it passes down as we control the strike zone very well because it’s what we harp on as a team.”
The freshman Groves then muscled a three-run home run to deep center field to extend the Bronco lead to 9-3 before Eliyah Flores hit a solo shot to right field to put Boise State in double digits on the scoreboard with a 10-3 lead.
“Syd (Groves) is just a solid constant player that’s really just done a good job for us and really stepped up,” Huchingson said. “To see her do that so early on she’s going to be a huge impact on this program.”
Abby Bumcrot flew out on a sacrifice fly to center field in the fourth allowing Jordyn Hutchins to score and take an eight run advantage over the Aggies and give the Broncos their 19th win in the past 21 games.
The Broncos (27-12, 13-2 MW) will have a chance to polish things up with a nonconference game against Idaho State on Wednesday before a crucial home series from Dona Larsen Park against second place San Diego State over the weekend.
“It’s a huge series all around in general but for us we’re just taking it one game at a time,” Huchingson said.
Postgame interviews from Justin Shults and Serena Huchingson: