Feb. 24, 2007

St. George, Utah - Utah Valley baseball clinched its first series win of the 2007 season after finishing off Southern Utah, 5-3, in a game that started on Thursday. The T-Birds (2-8) then salvaged the series finale with an 8-2 win over the Wolverines.

Entering the top of the 8th inning of the postponed game, Utah Valley (2-6) held a 4-2 lead when Dan Bulow doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jace Brinkerhoff, giving UV a 5-2 lead.

Southern Utah added a run in the bottom of the inning before Marcus Moore came in and shut the door. Moore struck out the side in the 9th and earned his first save of the season after picking a win in the first game of the series.

Kyle Kasper earned his first win as a Wolverine in the 5-3 win, allowing one run on one hit while striking out five in 4.1 innings of relief.

Adam Openshaw had three hits in the game while Bulow added two hits.

In the finale, Southern Utah broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning with three runs on the strength of a two-run single from Cameron Nelson.

SUU scored three more times in the 8th, two of which were unearned, for the final 8-2 tally.

Derrick Thomas and Ryan Jones had two hits each for Utah Valley while Eli Slesk had one hit to continue his season long hit streak to eight games. Slesk has a hit in 10 straight dating back to last season.

Brinkerhoff was strong on the mound for the Wolverines through six innings before he got into trouble in the seventh. He was charged with all three runs in the seventh and fell to 0-2 on the year.

The two teams will meet again next week at the Banana Belt Tournament in Lewiston, Idaho. Utah Valley will play four games at the tournament beginning on Thursday at Washington State. UV will also face Gonzaga (Fri.) and Air Force (Sat.) before going against SUU again on Sunday, March 4th.