March 28, 2006
OREM, Utah - Utah Valley State beat Northwest Nazarene 9-6 in the opening game of a mid-week doubleheader before dropping a 6-3 decision in a rain shortened ballgame.
In the opener, Utah Valley State (7-19) jumped out to an early 3-0 in the bottom of the first on the strength of a two-run triple by freshman
Chris Benson.
Northwest Nazarene (11-13) came back to tie it in the top of the third after a bases-loaded double by Matt Pollard scored two runs and an error on the play brought home the third run to knot it at three.
The Crusaders took the lead in the fourth on an RBI single by CJ Severin, scoring Harold Schulz. They added two more in the fifth when Eric Duke delivered an RBI double and Trevor McKinney brought Duke home on a single.
The Wolverines answered in the bottom of the fifth, capped by two big two-out hits by
Canyon Vance and
Cory Newton. Vance delivered an RBI triple, scoring Benson and Newton brought Vance home with a single to give UV the lead at 7-6.
Utah Valley added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to get some insurance and also got 4.2 innings of scoreless relief from
Marcus Moore (1-1), who earned his first win of the season.
Moore allowed just two hits while walking one while Gabe Stotz (0-2) took the loss after giving up seven runs on eight hits in 4.2 innings as NNU's starter.
Benson finished the game 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored for the Wolverines while Vance was also 3-for-4 with and RBI and two runs scored.
In the second game Utah Valley State used the long ball to take an early 3-1 lead.
Brad Hales,
Dan Bulow and
Chris Benson all homered for the Wolverines as they gained that two-run lead through four innings.
NNU added a run in the fifth to cut it to 3-2 before getting some clutch two out hits in the seventh and eighth innings to score four runs and take a 6-3 lead.
In the seventh, Matt Pollard hit a bases loaded double to right, scoring CJ Severin and Tim Miller and giving Northwest Nazarene a 4-3 lead.
Then in the eighth Severin and Miller both delivered two-out RBI singles to give NNU a 6-3 lead and after Tim Stuvland held UV scoreless in the eighth, the showers came causing the game to end early.
Stuvland earned his first save of the season while Alex VanOeveren (3-2) earned the win in relief for NNU.
Kyle Wink (0-1) suffered the defeat on the mound for Utah Valley State.
The Wolverines will host in-state rival Southern Utah this weekend in a four-game series beginning Thursday at 7:00pm. The two will also meet Friday at 7:00pm before a doubleheader Saturday starting at 1:00pm.
