Feb. 28, 2007

Orem, Utah - Utah Valley baseball heads north this weekend for four games at the Banana Belt Tournament, hosted by 2006 NAIA National Champions Lewis-Clark State.

This will be the third time in four seasons that UV (2-6 all-time at the tournament) will compete at the Banana Belt Tournament.

The Wolverines (2-6) will open at Washington State (3-3) in Pullman, Washington on Thursday at 5pm MT. Dan Christensen (0-0, 13.50) will get his first start of the season for Utah Valley. Washington State leads the all-time series 6-3 against UV.

Bryan Smith (0-2, 2.70) will get the nod on the hill on Friday against Gonzaga (5-8) in Lewiston, Idaho. The Bulldogs will counter with Brandon Harmon (0-3, 6.49) in a game scheduled for Noon MT. Utah Valley is 0-5 all-time against Gonzaga.

On Saturday in Lewiston, UV will send freshman Jace Brinkerhoff (0-2, 5.54) to the hill to battle Air Force (4-7). The Falcons will start Mitch Brown (1-2, 3.54) in a game scheduled for 11am MT. The Wolverines lead the all-time series with Air Force 3-2.

Sunday's finale in Lewiston will be a rematch of last weekend's series against Southern Utah (2-8). The Wolverines took two out of three against the T-Birds a week ago. Pitching matchups are to be determined with the game scheduled for Noon MT. SUU leads the all-time series 10-8.

Live Gametracker will be available for the Washington State and Air Force games.

Next week the Wolverines will travel to Las Cruces, New Mexico to face New Mexico State.