March 20, 2006

pdf notes 

Opponent: San Francisco 
Dates: March 21-22, 2006
Location: San Francisco, California
Times: 3:00pm MST (both days)
Live Audio: Click HERE

Opponent: #16 Oregon State 
Dates: March 24-26, 2006
Location: Corvallis, Oregon 
Times: 6pm/2pm/2pm MST 
Live Audio: Click HERE

What's on Deck ... 
Utah Valley State (6-13) continues its longest road trip of the season when they travel to San Francisco for two midweek games followed by a weekend series at #16 Oregon State.

Brett Guerrero is scheduled to start on Tuesday in the first of two games at San Francisco. It will be the first start of his career while Ryan Jessop gets the nod in Wednesday's game against the Dons.

Kam Mickolio, Kalen Parsons and Kyle Tash are the scheduled starters for the weekend at Oregon State. 

The Wolverines are coming off of a four-game series split at Sacramento State to begin the nine-game 12-day road trip on the West coast.

Kam Mickolio pitched the first shutout of his career in the series opener, a five-hit shutout in which he struck out four Hornets.

Adam Openshaw went 5-for-5 on the day while true freshman Chris Benson was 4-for-4 with a sac fly RBI. 

Pitching was the key in the series as Sac State starter Mick Joyce pitched his third straight complete game in Saturday's 7-1 Hornet win. He was one strike away from a three-hit shutout when Dan Bulow hit a 3-2 pitch over the right field wall.

Kyle Tash helped pitch UV to a 6-5 win in the third game of the series while Sac State got a strong start from Travis Kane in Sunday's finale for another 7-1 advantage.

Benson leads Utah Valley State at the plate with a .395 average while Openshaw is second with a .365 average.

Scouting the Opposition ... 
San Francisco (11-12) has won six out of seven games including two out of three at New Mexico last weekend.

The Dons won the series opener in Albuquerque 10-9 after a five-run eighth gave them a late lead. In the second game, San Francisco trailed 2-1 in the ninth when an error by New Mexico allowed the tying run to score with two outs. The Dons then went on to score nine runs in the 10th inning to win 11-6.

They are led at the plate by Joey Railey, who is hitting .446 while Stefan Gartrell is batting .347 with 2 home runs a 23 RBI. Lucas DeLong leads USF with four home runs.

Oregon State (12-7) is currently ranked 16th in the nation by Baseball America after dropping two out of three games at Southern California in its Pac-10 opening series.

Starters Dallas Buck and Kevin Gunderson lead the Beaver pitching staff. Buck, an All-American in 2005 and a preseason AA in 2006 sports a 2.19 ERA and a 5-0 record while hitters are batting a miniscule .180 against him.

Gunderson, a south paw, is a preseason All-America pick and has four saves and a 2.57 ERA so far in 2006.

At the plate, the Beavers are batting .310 as a team and lead by three home runs and a .373 average from junior Cole Gillespie.

Up Next ... 
The Wolverines will host Northwest Nazarene on Tuesday, March 28th beginning at 12:00 Noon. Southern Utah then comes to town for a four-game series during next weekend beginning Thursday, March 30th.