May 15, 2006

Opponent: BYU
Dates: May 16, 2006 
Location: Provo, Utah (Larry H. Miller Field) 
Time: 7:00pm MST 
Live Audio: Click HERE

What's On Deck ...
Utah Valley State (17-34) will play its final in-state game on Tuesday night when the Wolverines make the quick jump over to Provo to take on BYU.

It will be the fourth game between the two and a Utah Valley win would even the season series at two wins apiece.

In the last meeting between the two teams the Wolverines sailed to a 13-6 victory on the strength of a six-run fourth inning and a five-run fifth.

Utah Valley State had last weekend off after topping Utah 11-9 last Tuesday in Salt Lake City. In that game, Dan Bulow had four hits and two runs while Eli Slesk drove in four runs. 

Kalen Parsons earned the win after working out of bases loaded jams in the final four innings as the Utes stranded 17 runners on the day.

The Wolverines are playing their best baseball of the season and have gone 3-2 in their last five with all five games against schools at least .500 or better.

Sandwiched in between the wins over BYU and Utah was a three-game series at Pac-10 Washington State. 

Utah Valley State won the opener 5-4 thanks to an RBI single in the 9th by freshman Chris Benson.

In the second game the Wolverines lost a heartbreaker in 11 innings, 9-8 before dropping the finale 6-5.

In the final game of the series, UV had a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th and seemed poise to pull of the big series upset. But Washington State got four home runs in the inning to take a 6-4 lead into the 9th.

The Wolverines threatened, cutting the lead to one, but stranded the tying run at second base. 

Scouting the Opposition ...
BYU (26-26) took two out of three last weekend over San Diego State to move to 11-8 in Mountain West play. 

Former Wolverine Ben Saylor is batting .352 with 17 home runs and 54 RBI for the Cougars while freshman Jordan Muir is 6-0 with a 3.36 ERA.

Tuesday's game will be the final home game of 2006 for Brigham Young. 

Up Next ...
Utah Valley State will compete in the D-I Independent Tournament this weekend beginning Thursday at 7:30pm CT against host South Dakota State in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

They will take on the New York Institute of Technology on Friday at 4:30 to wrap up round robin action before the semi finals and finals take place Saturday and Sunday.

IPFW, North Dakota State and Northern Colorado are the other three schools at the tournament, for a total of six teams.