Utah Valley State vs. Utah
Location: Parkway Crossing Stadium, Orem, Utah
Date: April 26, 2005 @ 7:00pm
Series Record: Season series tied 1-1. All-Time series tied 4-4.
Live Audio: To listen to the game live online click HERE

What's on Tap:
Utah Valley State and Utah will meet for the third time this season with the current season series tied 1-1 and the all-time series tied 4-4. The two teams began a game last Tuesday the 19th, but were forced to postpone the game because of rain. They will try to make up that game at a later date. Currently the game is in the top of the 2nd inning with the score tied at two and a man on first for the Wolverines.

Wolverine Update:
The Wolverines just finished up a fairly successful week when they went 3-2 and beat in-state rival BYU for the first time in the school-??s two-year Division-I history. Kyle Tash pitched the first complete game of his career as he led the Wolverines to a 7-4 win. Nick Connor was 4-4 on the day for Utah Valley State and had two assists in the outfield.

Kory Drew came up with the big hit of the day when he singled home two runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to give the Wolverines some breathing room.

Last Friday and Saturday, Utah Valley State hosted South Dakota State during the grand opening of the new baseball stadium in Orem. The Wolverines split with SDSU on both Friday and Saturday, losing the opener of a doubleheader on Friday then winning the nightcap and then doing just the opposite on Saturday.

Quick Hits:
- The Wolverines will play just three more games at home in 2005 including Tuesday-??s game against Utah. Next Monday, May 2nd, Utah Valley will take on BYU for the final time this season and then the following Tuesday, May 10, they will again host Utah in what is scheduled to be the final game off 2005.

- Eli Slesk is currently leading the team in batting with a .392 average. Last week, Slesk hit .526 (10-for-19) while driving in four runs and scoring seven times.

- On Saturday, Dan Bulow hit his 14th home run and Trent Perry hit his 12th in the 11-5 win over South Dakota State. The two sluggers are #1 and #2 in total home runs among all Division-I Independent players, while Perry-??s 18 doubles and 49 runs batted in are also at or near the top of Independent leaders as well.

Division-I Independents:
Utah Valley State wrapped up its 2005 schedule against other Division-I Independent squads as they split last weekend with South Dakota State. The team finished 5-10 during the season with seven of the 10 losses coming at the hands of UC Davis (3) and Sacramento State (4). The Wolverines were 2-0 against North Dakota State, 1-1 against Northern Colorado and 2-2 against South Dakota State.

Bateman's Success Continues:
Junior Todd Bateman, who pitched sparingly at the beginning of the season, earned his 2nd victory of the year in Saturday's first game against South Dakota State. Bateman leads the team with a 2.55 ERA in 17.1 innings of work out of the bullpen. He did start one game that hasn't registered statistically yet because it was temporarily been postponed due to weather.

Senior Sendoff:
With this being finals week, the team has only one game this week, giving the players a chance to keep to the books and the seniors a chance to finalize everything before graduation on Friday. Following Tuesday-??s game against Utah, there will only be two more chances for fans to see the nine seniors on the Wolverine roster.

Scouting the Competition:
The Utes are coming off a weekend where they lost two out of three against rival BYU at Franklin Covey Field in Salt Lake City. They rallied late but lost the series opener 10-8 after trailing 10-0 after an inning and a half. In the 2nd game of the series, John Welsh hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the 9th inning to score pinch runner Tyler Kmetko to win 11-10. Then in the final game of the series the Cougars routed Utah 19-6.

On Deck:
The Wolverines will finish their season with what could be the most difficult portion of their schedule. They begin the week of May 2-8 by hosting BYU on the 2nd followed by a match-up with Utah the next afternoon. The following morning the team will fly to Tempe and play national powerhouse Arizona State that evening. Following a day off on Thursday the Wolverines will play three games with another perennial national contender in Arizona beginning on Friday in Tucson. After next week, just one game remains on the schedule; a May 10th game at home against Utah at 7:00pm.