SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Utah Valley State's struggles to push runs across the plate continued on Tuesday afternoon as they lost 5-3 to the University of Utah, dropping their sixth contest in a row. During the six-game losing span, the Wolverines have scored an average of only 3 runs per game. Compare that to the six games prior to the losing streak, where Utah Valley scored an average of 13 runs per outing and there's reason for concern from head coach Steve Gardner.

"We've got a lot of guys that need to contribute that haven't been," said Gardner. "We're just gonna have to go back to the basics and get guys that help us win ball games. We should be really excited to come and play Utah, but I didn't feel that today. I didn't think the guys were very focused."

After a two-run home run by Utah 2nd baseman Doug Beck in the first inning, the Wolverines clawed their way back into it. Dan Bulow hit his team-high 8th home run to left center in the top of the second to cut the lead in half. Eli Slesk then hit a two run triple in the fourth inning to give Utah Valley a 4-3 lead that it would hold until the 7th.

Wolverine starter Jed Jensen settled down after giving up the home run in the first and at one point retired eight straight Utah hitters before giving up two runs in the 7th. Utah tied the game on a sacrifice fly by Seth Tartler and then took the lead when John Welsh singled home Ryder Olsen to give the Utes the lead for good.

Utah added an insurance run in the eighth inning and then thwarted any hopes of a Wolverine comeback when Ute pitcher Brian Lane got Dan Bulow to ground into a double play in the ninth after giving up a lead off single to Trent Perry.

"They wanted to beat us a little more that we wanted to beat them," said Gardner. "That's what it boils down to sometimes, making plays and getting it done...it wasn't our best effort for sure."

Utah Valley State will be back in action this weekend with three games in Greeley, Colorado against Northern Colorado. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1:00pm MST followed by a single game Sunday at Noon. All three games can be heard live on wolverinesports.net.