Three Utes Earn Pac-12 Honors For Baseball
May 24, 2022, 4:13 PM | Updated: 8:20 pm
(Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
(Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY- The Pac-12 announced late Tuesday that three baseball Utes have earned Pac-12 postseason honors. First baseman Alex Baeza was named to the All-Defensive team, while catcher Davis Cop and second basemen Landon Frei earned All-Conference honorable mentions. This was the first All-Pac-12 selections for all three athletes.
.@utahbaseball has three athletes earn Pac-12 postseason awards. 1st baseman Alex Baeza was named to the All-Defensive Team while catcher Davis Cop & 2nd basemen Ladon Frei earned All-Conference honorable mentions. #GoUtes
— Michelle Bodkin (@BodkinKSLsports) May 24, 2022
Alex Baeza
Baeza is a local product from West Jordan who transferred to the Utes from Hawai’i. Almost immediately, Baeza became one of the conference’s top defenders at first base. Baeza started 53 of 54 games at first base while playing in every game and earned a .998 fielding percentage with just one error assessed. Out in the field Baeza was effective picking balls out of the dirt and helped the Utes tally 14 pickoffs on the season. On the plate Baeza led the Utes with 17 doubles in 2022.
Davis Cop
The sophomore catcher from Ventura, California started 35 games for the Utes in 2022. Cop proved to be very effective at bat with seven doubles and three home runs to his name along with an RBI of 26. When it came to slugging, Cop ranked third on the team with a .478 percentage and logged 14 multi-hit games. Cop also had a hitting streak that ran for eight games.
Landon Frei
The native Utah freshman basemen wasted very little time letting his presence be known. Frei started all but two games for the Utes, and had his first home run during his first ever collegiate at bat. Frei led the Utes in batting average with a .330, hits at 69, and was second over all amongst the freshmen in conference in both categories. On a national level, Frei was the fifth hardest freshman to strike out. Frei was tied on the team for multi-hit games with 18.
2022 Baseball Season
The Utes finished 2022 26-27-1 overall and 10-20 in-conference. Utah finished the season on a disappointing note in the conference championship getting swept by Cal in three games to end their season.
