Baseball: Wolverines sweep UTRGV

Photo by Brigham Berthold

EDINBURG, Texas — The UVU baseball team swept a road series against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to open up WAC play and push its winning streak to four games.

Friday

Vaqueros pitcher Carter Johnson stifled the Wolverines’ offense until late in the game, striking out 10 batters and walking none in the contest. Down 3-0 in the seventh inning, Trevor Howell singled down the right field line and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. With two outs, left fielder Jake Berry drove Howell home and then Callahan Moltzan got another two-out hit to put UVU within one run. The Wolverines strung together a few more hits and a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to take a 4-3 lead. Patrick Wolfe came into the game for a four-out save in the eighth inning and held on for his fifth save.

Saturday

The Wolverines jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the third inning thanks to a three-run home run from freshman Luke Jacketta. Three Wolverines reached base by way of walk in the third inning and one scored when Jackson Overlund drove them in with one of his five hits in the game and the other on a fielders’ choice. UVU’s Jake Mayer left the game in the sixth inning and was the winning pitcher in the game. The Wolverines scored two more runs and won by a final of 7-4.

Sunday

The Vaqueros’ Andrew Garcia and Wolverines’ Kaden Schmitt combined for a pitchers duel in the series finale. A 1-1 tie ball game forced extra innings where UVU’s offense came alive. Howell walked and Zac Willis smacked a home run to take the lead. The Wolverines tacked on another run to take a 4-1 lead to the bottom of the 10th inning where Patrick Wolfe shut down UTRGV and picked up the winning decision.

The Wolverines improved to 8-15 on the season and 3-0 in conference play. UVU will face Sacramento State, another WAC foe, Thursday for the first game of a three-game series. First pitch Thursday is set for 6 p.m. MDT.