{"id":178813,"date":"2026-02-15T06:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/178813\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T06:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:26:16","slug":"utes-take-season-opener-at-fresno-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/178813\/","title":{"rendered":"Utes Take Season Opener at Fresno State"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO, Calif. \u2013 Jake Long<\/a> sparked the Utah baseball team with a two-run homer in the first inning and the Utes never looked back, claiming an 8-3 win at Fresno State on Friday night inside Bob Bennett Stadium.
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\nThe result gives Utah a season-opening win to kick off a four-game series with the Bulldogs.
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\nMaking his Utah debut, center fielder Jet Gilliam<\/a> hit out of the leadoff spot and went 2-for-4 with an RBI single plus a walk, scoring once. Cameron Gurney<\/a> tripled and contributed an RBI double as the Utes combined for nine hits and nine more walks.
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\nRight-handed pitcher Colter McAnelly<\/a> earned the opening night start and threw five innings with just one unearned run allowed. He struck out three Bulldogs against four hits and a walk. From there, Ryan Kittredge<\/a> and Cameron Nielson<\/a> each tossed two innings out of the bullpen.
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\nLong, the two-hole hitter, wasted no time in breaking the ice. Gilliam worked a walk to lead off the game, then Long clubbed the first pitch for a moon shot that sailed over the right field bullpen and into the early night skies.
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\nUtah added a three-spot in the third inning, helped in part by two Fresno State errors. The inning began with back-to-back miscues, setting the stage for freshman and Utah native Cal Miller<\/a> to double down the right field line for both his first collegiate hit and RBI. Later on, fellow newcomer Bradley Navarro<\/a> knocked home Daniel Arambula<\/a> with a single and Gilliam was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded as the Utes swelled the advantage to 5-1.
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\nThe clubs traded runs as the game turned toward the home stretch. In the sixth, Arambula broke away from a pickoff throw behind him at first base and ultimately stole second. The throw to second got away, however, allowing Gurney to trot home from third base on the play.
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\nThen in the top of the seventh, Luke Jacobs<\/a> came in as a pinch runner for Navarro after a walk. Jacobs was called out at the plate on a would-be wild pitch, but after a lengthy video review the call was overturned and Jacobs was called safe for Utah’s seventh run of the ballgame.
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\nNielson was unfazed by a one-out single in the eighth and had a runner in scoring position with one out in the ninth, but answered with a strikeout looking and a fly ball to lock up the victory for the Utes.
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\nNext Up
\nUtah will return to Bob Bennett Stadium on Saturday for another meeting with Fresno State. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. MT.
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\nFollow Utah Baseball
\nKeep up with the Utes by following @utahbaseball and by visiting\u00a0www.UtahUtes.com<\/a>. Download the Utah 360 app\u00a0here<\/a>.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. \u2013 Jake Long sparked the Utah baseball team with a two-run homer in the first inning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-178813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}