May 14, 2007
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This Week's Action
Utah Valley (22-27) will face its toughest stretch this season when the Wolverines play at BYU and at #8 Arizona State on back-to-back nights this week. UV will play the Cougars on Tuesday at 6pm MT and then fly the following to Tempe to face the national powerhouse Sun Devils on Wednesday at 7pm MT.
Utah Valley will send left-handed junior Dan Christensen against BYU and junior right-hander Marcus Moore will take the hill against ASU. There will be live audio and live stats available for both games, including Gametracker for the game at Arizona State.
The Wolverines have won three straight, winning their only game last week, 6-4 over Utah. In the game, Marcus Moore pitched his third complete game of the season and struck out 13 Utes. It's the third time in six starts that Moore has reached double figures in strikeouts. He set the school record with 14 against Southern Utah on April 11th.
Derrick Thomas went 2-for-2 with his team best 11th home run of the year and upped his average to .404, also a team high, while Austin Heaps hit his sixth round tripper for UV. Thomas leads the team in runs batted in as well with 50.
Utah Valley has set a new school record for wins in a season with 22 and counting. The 20th win this season came in the opener of a doubleheader last week at Northern Colorado.
Scouting the Cougars
BYU (31-18, 14-7) enters Tuesday's game having won two in a row and nine of its last 11 games. The Cougars won two out of three at San Diego State over the weekend with both wins coming in 13-inning contests.
BYU holds a 9-2 all-time series edge and is 2-0 this season after winning 12-8 in March in Provo 2-1 in 12 innings two weeks ago in Orem.
Scouting the Sun Devils
Arizona State (37-12, 14-4) sits atop the Pac-10 after sweeping UCLA at home over the weekend. The #8 Sun Devils are the highest ranked team that the Wolverines will face in baseball (UV also played #8 Arizona in 2005).
ASU boasts one of the most potent offenses in the country, averaging a nation-best 10.0 runs per game and a team batting average of .357, second nationally.
Utah Valley holds a 1-0 series lead after defeating the then #17 Sun Devils 9-6 on May 4, 2005, which is still the schools only win over a ranked opponent in its four-year NCAA history.
ASU/UV Connection
Arizona State and Utah Valley do have one connection; Mitch Jones was an All-American at both schools. Jones played at UV in 1997 and 1998 when the school was still competing at the junior college level.
He is the Wolverines' single season and career record holder in home runs. He also set the school single season record for home runs at ASU in 2000 when he hit 27 for the Sun Devils. The Orem native is currently playing for the Las Vegas 51's, the Triple-A affiliate for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On Deck
Utah Valley will wrap up the 2007 season next week as they host the 2007 Division-I Independent Championship. Chicago State, NJIT, NYIT, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado and South Dakota State will all be in Orem for the four-day event.
