April 2, 2008

OREM, Utah - Marcus Moore tossed his first career shutout as Utah Valley avenged last week's loss to Utah with an 8-0 win on Wednesday night at Brent Brown Ballpark. Moore struck out nine in the four-hitter and threw the first Wolverine shutout since Kam Mickolio did it at Nevada on April 21, 2006.

"I like throwing at home, it's a great place to throw," said Moore. "We got some early run support and that helped. They're (Utah) a good hitting team...a tough team to shutout."

"All I can say is Marcus Moore," said head coach Steve Gardner. "He had a lot of confidence, good rhythm and was fluid. He had good defense behind him tonight too. We made some nice plays."

The Utes (10-13) came into the game with a Mountain West leading .334 average before being held to just four singles by four different hitters on the night.

The Wolverines (5-17-1), who ended a six-game slide with the win, jumped out of the gate early with a three-run first. Tyler Garretson tripled on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first and later scored on an RBI groundout by Jace Brinkerhoff.

Adam Openshaw and Scott Croshaw then delivered back-to-back two-out doubles to drive in two more runs and UV led 3-0 after one inning.

Moore cruised through the first four innings and didn't allow a hit until Austin Jones singled just past the diving glove of shortstop Jake Rickenbach in the top of the fifth.

Utah made a big threat in the sixth when the bases were loaded and nobody out with the Utes' leading hitter Jesse Shriner at the plate. Shriner hit a hard liner right at Brinkerhoff and the Wolverine third baseman beat DC Legg to the bag for a double play.

Dustin Hennis then singled off the umpire at short, moving everybody up a base and reloading the bases before Moore struck out Jones on a 3-2 slider to get out of the inning.

Utah Valley made it 4-0 in the sixth when Kevin Arendse double off the wall to straightaway center, scoring Openshaw.

The Wolverines put the game out of reach in the eighth with four more runs. Openshaw, who finished the game 2-for-2 with two RBI, tripled home Kai Hatch for the first run and Croshaw, who was 3-for-4 with two batted in, followed that with an RBI single. Rickenbach drove in the final two runs of the game with an bouncing single through the left side to score Croshaw and pinch runner Matt Ratliff.

Moore retired the final seven batters of the game, including Shriner, who had a hit taken away on a diving stop in the hole by Brinkerhoff to end the eighth.

The four-game series continues on Thursday with a 6pm start at Franklin Covey Field. Andy Jangard (0-1, 3.00) will make his second start of the season for the Wolverines while Utah will counter with Stephen Fife (3-2, 4.67).