Utah baseball goes into season with new-look lineup and Kinneberg sidelined for first month

This Utah baseball season will unfold unlike any other in program history as they progress toward Pac-12 Conference play.

Utah begins its season at 2 p.m. Friday against Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Okla., with 14 newcomers and a coach who’ll be a spectator for nearly the entire first month.

Utes coach Bill Kinneberg, in his 15th season as at the helm of the program, will serve a university-imposed suspension for the first 14 games. The suspension comes as a result of a former staff member, who was not part of the coaching staff, conducting coaching duties, which is a violation of NCAA rules.

“We’ve got a great group of assistant coaches,” said pitcher Josh Lapiana, one of four seniors on this year’s roster. “They’re going to do a great job of holding down the baseball side of it, in-game stuff, and I think it just really falls on the older guys to make sure that we keep the younger guys prepared throughout the game — mindset and things like that.”

Kinneberg is expected to return to the bench for the Utes’ game on March 12 at UNLV, the final game before the start of Pac-12 play.

“The first part of the season is going to be a little bit different with all the new faces and circumstances, but we’re going to make the most of it and try to be ready for that SC series,” Kinneberg said.

The heart of the Utes’ lineup must be reconstructed with the Nos. 3-4-5 hitters in last year’s order gone. Junior catcher Zack Moeller, the top returning home run hitter from last season, begins this season sidelined by injury. Freshman Chris Rowan, a three-time all-state honoree at Cottonwood High, will catch in Moeller’s place.

Center fielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr., a two-time all-conference selection, batted .327 last season and will be in the leadoff spot again. Rykker Tom steps in at third base after sitting out last spring as a mid-year transfer from San Diego. Tom and sophomore second baseman Oliver Dunn round out the top third of the lineup.

Left fielder Chandler Anderson moves to the cleanup spot. Anderson, a Park City graduate, finished last season ranked eighth in the Pac-12 in batting average (.336) and second on the team in on-base percentage (.400). Keirsey, Anderson and Dominic Foscalina give the Utes a fast, veteran outfield.

“I have a ton of confidence every one of the nine holes in our lineup,” Anderson said. “There’s no gaps. There’s not guys I doubt. All starting nine even onto the 10, 11, 12 guys — I have confidence in all of them. They’ve all proven themselves this fall.”

The Utes go into the first weekend of the season with junior left-hander Kyle Robeniol, senior right-hander Tanner Thomas and freshman right-hander Brett Brocoff as starting pitchers. Robeniol is a junior college transfer, while Thomas has pitched primarily in relief the past three seasons.

Two-thirds of last year’s weekend starting rotation — Riley Ottesen and Jayson Rose — went in the MLB Draft. Lapiana, a Sunday starter the past two seasons, begins the season in the bullpen. Jacob Rebar, Riley Pierce, Joshua Tedeschi and Lapiana could all also figure into the starting rotation this season.

“We’ve always had Jayson or Dalton [Carroll] or Ottesen and Lapiana that have been penciled in from day one, and that’s not the way it is this year,” Kinneberg said. “... This is the deepest staff that we’ve every had. There’s 13 guys that could be interchangeable that could start, could relieve or could finish a ballgame. We just don’t know what that order is going to be yet.”

Last season, the Utes finished 27-24 (15-15) and tied for fifth in the Pac-12.

“Our goal through the preseason is to win as many games as we can to put ourselves in a position to win 15, 16 games during the Pac to be able to get into a regional,” Lapiana said. “Last year, we just missed out. We had a rough stretch in the middle of the season where we lost eight or nine in a row. That made it tough on us. We know that if we can get into a regional, that’s when it all kind of shakes out.”