Utah Valley State (18-16) vs. University of Utah (19-27)
Location: Provo on Tuesday, May 11/Salt Lake City on Wednesday, May 12
Date: May 11 (Provo), May 12 (SLC)
Times: 7:00 pm (May 11), 2:00 pm (May 12)
Site: Larry H. Miller Field (May 11), Ute Field (May 12)
Radio: None
Internet Broadcast: None
Series Record: Series tied 2-2
May 10, 2004
OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley State baseball will close out its inaugural NCAA Division I campaign with two games against the University of Utah (19-27) this week. On Tuesday, the Wolverines (18-16) will host the Utes, for a 7:00 pm game at BYU's Larry H. Miller Field. The following day, Wednesday, May 12, UVSC will travel to Salt Lake City for a 2:00 pm game at Ute Field. The two games this week will be the final two games of a six game season series between the Wolverines and Utes. The series is tied at 2-2.
Originally UVSC was scheduled to play BYU twice, but because of scheduling conflicts those games have now been cancelled. The Wolverines have also cancelled their return trip to Greeley, Colorado to play in a Division I Independent Baseball tournament May 20-23.
Wolverine Update:
The Wolverines split two games with Utah last week. In the first game, Canyon Vance's two-run homerun in the bottom of the seventh inning gave UVSC the lead for good in a 5-4 Wolverine victory in Provo. The Utes took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but Wolverine starter, Jed Jensen settled down only allowing one more run in his next six innings of work. Brady Drake shut Utah out over the last two innings. The Utes allowed the "never say die" Wolverines to hang around and eventually got burned when Vance blasted his third homerun of the year over the center field wall. UVSC scored all five of its runs in the game with two outs.
In the second game on Wednesday in Salt Lake City, UVSC allowed the Utes to comeback and tie the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the eighth, after taking a 7-4 lead. After scoring two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 9-7 lead, the Wolverines saw the victory snatched away with three Ute runs on just one hit. A Wolverine error, two hit batsman, a walk, two pass balls, and a routine ground ball that snuck through the middle plated three runs in a 10-9 Utah victory.
Utah swept the Air Force Academy in a five game series last weekend in Salt Lake City. The two teams played two extra games because two out three games were cancelled due to weather when the Utes and Falcons met in Colorado Springs earlier this season.
Wolverine Probable Starters:
Catcher: Jeff Broadhead (.397, 9 RBI) or Dan Bulow (.342, 10 2B, 3 HR, 19 RBI)
First Base: Trent Perry (.252, 7 HR, 23 RBI)
Second Base: Pepe Jones (.310, 2 HR, 12 RBI)
Shortstop: Jeremy Harris (.272, 1 3B, 12 RBI)
Third Base: Reno Mendenhall (.351, 11 2B, 20 RBI, 14 SB)
Left Field: Todd Bateman (.361, 4 2B, 4 RBI)
Center Field: Canyon Vance (.316, 3 HR, 27 RBI)
Right Field: Jed Jensen (.295, 3 3B, 2 HR, 12 RBI)
Designated Hitter: Josh Hinckley (.416, 9 2B, 3 HR, 18 RBI) or Dan Bulow (.342, 10 2B, 3 HR 19 RBI)
Probable Pitching Rotation:
Tuesday's Starter: Aaron Tash, RHP (5-5, 3.88 ERA)
Wednesday's Starter: Jed Jensen, RHP (5-3, 5.06 ERA)
Home Away From Home:
The Wolverines will play all their home games at Brigham Young University's
Larry H. Miller Field due to the construction of Parkway Crossing Stadium.
Parkway Crossing Stadium:
The future home of Wolverine Baseball will be a long awaited 3.5 million dollar stadium to be built and ready for the 2005 campaign. Parkway Crossing Stadium will have primary grandstand area seating of 2,500. An additional 2,500 fans can throw down blankets on the grass berming down the left field line extending behind the left field wall. The unique design will follow the trend of several of the major league fields that have been constructed recently with different angles and corners down the lines and in the gaps around the outfield wall. The field dimensions will challenge opposing hitters in the gaps expanding to 449 feet in left-center and 413 feet to right-center. The center field wall will be 435 feet away. Directly down the left field line will be 325 feet with a 16-foot wall to contend with, and the short porch directly down the right field line is 307 feet, but immediately gets deeper toward the right-center field gap. The convenient location just off the I-15 will allow baseball fans to enter and exit the stadium quickly. The stadium will also be host to future high school state tournaments and Division I college tournaments and post-season play.
