Wolverines take 2 of 3 from Northern Colorado

UVU recently returned from a road trip in Northern Colorado, having won two of three games against the Bears.

Utah Valley took an early lead in the first game as the Wolverines got three runs in the top of the second inning. Junior Alexander Marco got things going in the second inning with a single to the left side. Sophomore Drew Sims then forced four balls and reached first on a walk, sending Marco to second. Madsen then singled to left field, scoring Marco and advancing Sims to second base. Sophomore Pacen Hayes then kept things going with a double to the center field wall to send Madsen and Sims across home plate to give the Wolverines a 3-0 advantage. UNC then got out of the inning as it forced UVU into back-to-back-to-back ground outs to end the inning.

Northern Colorado got a run back in the bottom of the second inning to cut the UVU lead to a 3-1 advantage. However, UVU responded in the top of the third as senior Ryan Eastburn singled to center before Marco homered to give the Wolverines a 5-1 lead.

UNC got a run in the bottom of the fourth and another in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Wolverines’ lead to just two runs, making it 5-3. Utah Valley then rallied with two outs in the top of the sixth as senior Kody Hall singled and then advanced to third on a couple of UNC errors that also helped senior Michael Beltran get to first. Beltran then stole second and advanced to third with Hall crossing the plate on an error. Beltran then scored on a passed ball to give the Wolverines two runs in the inning to help extend their lead to 7-3.

UVU continued to cross the plate in the top of the seventh as Madsen reached on a walk before advancing to second on a passed ball. Hayes then homered to score himself and Madsen for a pair of runs to extend UVU’s lead to 9-4. UVU was held scoreless in the eighth and then got out of the bottom half of the inning as the Wolverines turned a double play with one out and a runner on first base.

Northern Colorado rallied in the bottom of the ninth as the Bears scored a pair of runs and had two on base with one out and the tying run at the plate. Freshman Cole Yocum was then able to force UNC into a flyout to center loading the bases. Freshman Romeo Carrillo then came in to strikeout the final UNC batter as UVU held on for the 9-6 victory.

Utah Valley scored its nine runs on 13 hits while not committing an error. Northern Colorado scored its six runs on 12 hits.

In game 2 of the series, Utah Valley used some late-inning dramatics to complete the victory 5-4.

Sims hit a sacrifice fly that scored Hall in the top of the ninth inning to help lift Utah Valley to a 5-4 road win at Northern Colorado on Saturday afternoon at Jackson Field in Greeley. The win secured the series win with two victories heading into Sunday’s final game.

Utah Valley was first to get on the scoreboard again in game 2 as Beltran singled to center and then advanced to second on an Eastburn single to right. A Sims single to center field sent Beltran across the plate to give the Wolverines an early 1-0 lead after an inning of play.

The Wolverines came up just short in the series finale. In a game where Eastburn exploded for five hits, two of them doubles, to go along with three RBIs, Utah Valley could not do enough to come out on top, losing 11-10.

Utah Valley got on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning as Hayes doubled to left and then scored as Plecas doubled to right. Plecas then crossed the plate on a Hall single to left field, giving the Wolverines an early 2-0 advantage. The schools traded runs in the middle innings, until the Bears struck for three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Redshirt senior Jack Pauley hit a two-run homer to left and sophomore Jake Gitter singled to left to score redshirt sophomore Sam Leach. The three runs gave the Bears an 11-10 lead. UNC then held UVU scoreless in the top of the ninth to secure the win.

The Wolverines used four pitchers on the day. Walker Ramsey opened the game and went 2.0 innings with a strikeout. Travis Parker worked 4.1 innings as he tallied four strikeouts while giving up just three runs. Romeo Carrillo pitched an inning, giving up two hits and three runs with one strikeout. Cole Yocum pitched 0.2 innings without giving up a run.

Photo courtesy of Jonah Hokit