Senior leadership helping baseball make waves in WAC

Warren McDade @warrenmcdade17

Like the other sports, the Utah Valley University baseball team is thrilled to be in the Western Athletic Conference.

With the league champion getting an automatic bid to the College World Series, the season could not have started sooner.

The 2014 Wolverines returned six starting position players and two starting pitchers. They also have seven seniors on the team: Sean Moysh, Devin Nelson, Andrew Freter, Riley White, Ryan Evans, Colby Croft and Tory Ulibarri; each wanting to leave their time at UVU on a winning note.

Moysh is from Murray and is tied for leading the team in batting at .286 with three home runs and 17 RBIs. After missing all but three games last year due to injury, Moysh is regaining his form and is one of the leaders of the team.

Nelson is from Spanish Fork and plans to major in technology management. In 10 appearances, he is 3-4 with a 3.86 ERA.

Freter hails from Meridian, Idaho where he played baseball and basketball. In one of his memorable moments here, he beat then-reigning national champion Arizona by going 5.1 innings without allowing an earned run on three hits. In nine starts this year, he is 2-5 with a 4.19 ERA and 42 strikeouts. He will major in Exercise Science.

White is from Lehi, but prepped at Pleasant Grove High School. Last year he finished the season batting .305 and was named All-Great West second team. On the year, he is batting .223 with 11 RBI’s. He plans to major in Business.

Evans is from American Fork where he also played football and basketball. He is 2-3 in nine starts with a 4.57 ERA. He looks to major in Behavioral Science.

Croft is from Lindon and also played at Pleasant Grove. The former Viking is batting .184 with 8 RBI’s. Croft had a great junior year and is looking to get hot for the Wolverines down the stretch. He plans to major in Business Management.

And to round out the seniors, Ulibarri is from Salt Lake City and prepped at West High. He is the first person in his family to play college athletics and on the year has a 5.06 ERA in seven appearances.

So far, the team is 14-20 overall and 7-5 in conference play. It was a tough start to the year with the Wolverines having to play their first 16 games on the road. Along the way they had big wins over national powerhouse Arizona and in-state rival BYU. They have started to heat up, winning seven of their last 10, and six straight behind strong pitching and timely hitting.

With only 19 games left, UVU looks to finish strong heading into the conference tournament in Mesa, Ariz., with the winner getting an automatic bid to the College World Series.