March 18, 2008
SPOKANE, Wash. - Marcus Moore struck out nine batters and threw his fifth career complete game as Utah Valley edged Gonzaga 5-3 on Tuesday night.
Moore allowed three runs on seven hits while throwing 149 pitches as the Wolverines (4-11-1) evened the three game series against the Bulldogs (11-8) at one win apiece. The series finale is Wednesday at 7pm MT with senior left-hander Dan Christensen (1-2, 5.03) scheduled to start for UV against CJ McClure (2-1, 6.89).
"I though Marcus battled really well tonight. He basically did what he usually does for us. He's a guy we can really rely on out there," said head coach Steve Gardner. "There were times when he had to work to get out of certain situations but he made a lot of big pitches when he needed to."
Utah Valley jumped out to a 3-0 lead just three batters into the game. After Scott Croshaw reached on an error and stole second, Ryan Jones walked before Jace Brinkerhoff hit the first pitch he saw from Gonzaga starter Reedy Berg out the park in left-center for his second home run of the season.
The Bulldogs countered with a single run on an RBI double by Ryan Wiegand before a two-run third gave UV a 5-1 lead. Croshaw scored the fourth run on a wild pitch and Adam Openshaw hit a sac-fly to center to score Jones for the fifth run.
Gonzaga scored a run in the bottom of the third when Grant Kveder was hit by a Moore pitch with the bases loaded. Wiegand then drove in another run with a single in the fourth, the final time either team would cross the plate on the night.
At one point, Moore retired 11 of 12 batters, with the only Bulldog to reach coming on an error in the fifth.
Moore ran into trouble in the eighth when he threw a possible double play ball wide of second base, putting two runners on and nobody out. But he got Drew Heid to ground to Brinkerhoff, who stepped on third and threw to first for the 5-3 double play. Moore then struck out Evan Wells to end the inning.
After Jason Chatwood led off the bottom of the ninth with a bloop single, Moore struck out Marcus McKimmy and Wiegand before getting Tyson Van Winkle to pop out to Openshaw to end the game.
Kai Hatch had two hits for the Wolverines, who improved to 3-8 all-time against Gonzaga.
