Utah Utes baseball

The Utah Utes baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The program's first season was in 1892, and it was a member of the NCAA Division I Pac-12 Conference from the start of the 2012 season until the conference's collapse after the 2024 season. The Utes will join the Big 12 Conference for the 2025 season and beyond.

Utah Utes
2024 Utah Utes baseball team
Founded	1892
University	University of Utah
Head coach	Gary Henderson (3rd season)
Conference	Pac-12 (Big 12 in 2025)
Location	Salt Lake City, UT
Home stadium	Smith's Ballpark (Capacity: 15,500)
Nickname	Utes
Colors	Red and white[1]
College World Series appearances
1951
NCAA Tournament appearances
1951, 1959, 1960, 2009, 2016
Conference tournament champions
2009
Regular season conference champions
1964, 1965, 1997, 2016

Through the 2024 season, its home venue has been Smith's Ballpark, located in downtown Salt Lake City. With the ballpark's main tenant, the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, opening the new Daybreak Field in nearby South Jordan in 2025, combined with the planned redevelopment of the Smith's Ballpark site, the university is building the new on-campus America First Ballpark and plans to open it for the 2026 season. The university has not yet announced its plans for a 2025 venue.^[2]

Gary Henderson is the team's head coach starting in the 2022 season. The program has appeared in 5 NCAA tournaments. It has won 1 conference tournament championship and 4 regular season conference titles. As of the start of the 2021 Major League Baseball season, 17 former Utes have appeared in Major League Baseball.

Year by year record

Season	Coach	Record		Notes
		Overall	Conference
Western Athletic Conference
1963	Pres Summerhayes	15–14	4–4
1964		14–16	6–4	WAC Northern Division Champions
1965		21–16	7–5	WAC Northern Division Champions
1966		19–20	5–7
1967		19–14	3–7
1968		19–13	4–5
1969		20–22	7–11
1970		20–18	3–10
1971		17–24	7–11
1972		21–28	4–14
1973		11–20	7–11
1974	Tom Kilgore	18–25	11–7
1975		17–28	6–12
1976		15–26	8–9
1977		17–28	6–12
1978		8–27	6–12
1979		7–36	2–15
1980	Mike Weathers	17–19	5–12
1981		23–20	15–9
1982	Lonnie Keeter	17–31	12–12
1983		15–18	7–15
1984		23–25	13–11
1985		29–21	12–11
1986		9–32	3–21
1987		16–34	8–16
1988	Rick Sofield	10–32	8–17
1989		17–32	10–18
1990		19–33	10–16
1991		23–30	11–12
1992		20–34	11–15
1993		31–19	14–9
1994		22–32	9–15
1995	Steve Gillespie	15–39	7–21
1996	Bill Kinneberg	30–22	15–15
1997	Tim Esmay	36–21–1	22–8	WAC Northern Division Champions
1998		23–31	12–18
		673-900-1
Mountain West Conference
1999	Tim Esmay	22–30	8–20
2000		26–30	15–15
2001		27–29	14–16
2002		33–26	16–14
2003		24–32	10–20
2004		22–36	11–19
2005	Bill Kinneberg	19–36	10–20
2006		28–28	9–13
2007		24–31	12–12
2008		26–31	10–14
2009		28–31	8–16	MWC Tournament champions NCAA Regional
2010		23–28	10–13
2011		29–21	16–7
		331-389
Pac-12 Conference
2012	Bill Kinneberg	14–42	7–23
2013		21–31	7–23
2014		16–36	4–26
2015		16–36–1	7–22–1
2016		25–27	18–11	Pac-12 Champions NCAA Regional
2017		27–24	15–15
2018		16–39	8–22
2019		16–33	6–24
2020		6–7	0–0	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2021		17–33	7–23
2022	Gary Henderson	26-27-1	10-20
2023		1-4
		201-335-1
Total		1205-1628-2

Conference membership

• 1939–1962: Mountain States Conference
• 1963–1999: Western Athletic Conference
• 2000–2011: Mountain West Conference
• 2012–present: Pac-12 Conference

Utah in the NCAA tournament

1951
College World Series Defeated Tennessee, 7–1 Lost to Southern California 2–8 Defeated Texas A&M15–8 Lost to Tennessee 4–5 Third Place

1959
District 7 playoffs Lost to Colorado State College 8–17 Defeated Colorado State College 13–8 Lost to Colorado State College 8–12

1960
District 7 playoffs Defeated Colorado State College 24–3 Lost to Colorado State College 2–3 Lost to Colorado State College 2–6

2009
Fullerton, CA Regional Lost to Cal State Fullerton 2–18 Defeated Georgia Southern 11–10 Defeated Gonzaga 9–7 Lost to Cal State Fullerton 3–16

2016
Oxford, MS Regional Defeated Ole Miss 6–510 Lost to Boston College 3–4 Lost to Tulane 1–4

Individual awards

All Americans

1951 James Cleverly, 2B 1959 Archie Skeen, C 1981 Phil Strom, DH 1997 Casey Child, OF

2001 Chris Shelton, SS 2006 Ryan Khoury, SS 2010 C. J. Cron, DH 2011 C. J. Cron, 1B

Conference awards

Mountain West Player of the Year Chris Shelton – 2001 Mitch Maio – 2002 Ryan Khoury – 2006 C. J. Cron – 2010, 2011 Mountain West Freshman of the Year Mike Westfall, 2001 C. J. Cron, 2009

Current and former major league players

• Billy Cowan
• Stephen Fife
• Randy Gomez
• John Noriega
• Bill Parsons
• Chris Shelton
• Steve Springer
• George Theodore
• C. J. Cron

Source: Baseball Reference

See also

• List of NCAA Division I baseball programs

References

1. University of Utah Athletics Brand Guide (PDF). August 23, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
2. "University of Utah Ballpark". University of Utah. Retrieved June 10, 2024.

External links

• Official website