SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - A seven run fourth made the difference on Tuesday afternoon as Utah Valley State downed in-state rival Utah in Salt Lake City 12-8. The Wolverines jumped out early, scoring three runs in the top of the first and one in the second to hold a 4-2 advantage going into the big fourth inning.

In the fourth, Nick Connor started the scoring when he singled home Reno Mendenhall and Kevin Hashimoto and Mendenhall, batting for the second time in the inning, finished the scoring when he tripled home Dan Bulow and Brad Hales. Mendenhall's triple was his first for 2005.

Utah cut the lead to 11-3 in the fifth when Ryan Khoury was singled home by Trevor Eastman, but Trent Perry answered that run in the top of the sixth with his 14th home run of the year.

Senior Brady Drake earned the win for Utah Valley State, giving up three runs on seven hits while striking out three in six innings of work.

The Utes made a game of it though as they got a little help from the Wolverine defense and scored five unearned runs on the seventh inning to cut the lead to 12-8, but senior Beau Giles came in to throw 2 2/3 innings of two-hit ball, including a perfect eighth and ninth, to earn his 2nd save.

"Yeah we made it interesting," said Utah Valley coach Steve Gardner. "I thought Brady pitched well for us and Beau came in a did a nice job. I think we played all right...battled pretty good."

Utah Valley State pounded out 13 hits on the afternoon including three from Kory Drew. Perry, Slesk and Bulow all had two hit days and two runs batted in each, while Hashimoto was 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Scott Croshaw came in for an injured Hashimoto defensively and made two spectacular plays in leftfield as he played outfield for the first time in his college career.

The game evens the season series between the two school both on the season (2-2) and all-time (5-5). The Wolverines and Utes will meet one more scheduled time, next Tuesday at 7:00pm in Orem. It still has not been determined whether or not the April 29th rainout will or will not be made up.

The Wolverines head to Arizona for four games beginning Wednesday at #17 Arizona State at 7:30pm MST. They will then travel to Tucson for a three-game series with #8 Arizona Friday through Sunday. All of the games can be heard live on wolverinesports.net/broadcast.