Feb. 28, 2009
CEDAR CITY, Utah - Utah Valley dropped a 9-5 decision at Southern Utah in the finale of a three-game series on Saturday afternoon, giving the T-Birds (4-3) the series win. The Wolverines (2-4) got three hits apiece from Jace Brinkerhoff and Sage Thorpe.
UVU will return to Orem for the home opener, next Thursday at 6 p.m. against Northern Colorado in the first of four games at Brent Brown Ballpark.
After being shutout on Friday, the Wolverines jumped out to a 2-0 lead on RBI singles from Josh Hinckley and Thorpe that plated Brinkerhoff and Chris Bemson. Benson's first-inning single extended his hit streak to 23 games.
SUU answered with two runs in the bottom of the first, the first run coming after Ray Wright led off with a solo home run. The T-Birds got three more in the second and one in the third to take a 6-2 advantage after three.
Utah Valley slowly chipped away at the lead. Thorpe doubled and then came home on Goose Kallunki's RBI single to center. Kallunki finished the day with two hits after a three-hit day on Friday.
Brinkerhoff led off the fifth with a double, moved to third on a balk and then scored on Benson's groundout to third. With two on in the inning Thorpe doubled again and Kallunki singled to put runners at first and third with two outs. Kirk Doxey then walked to load the bases but Kyle Melling got Jake Rickenbach to ground out to second to end the threat.
Trailing 6-4 entering the eighth, the Wolverines added a single run to get within a run on Ryan Jones'Â single through the left side to score Doxey.
Southern Utah got three big insurance runs in the eighth when Garrett Messerly hit a two-out, three-run home run for the final 9-5 tally.
Jory Jensen (1-1) took the loss after allowing two runs on four hits in 2.0 innings of work. Kyle Beecher threw 3.1 innings and allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out seven.
Kyle Melling (1-1) got the win for SUU while Jacob Noyes earned his second save after throwing four innings in relief and allowing one run on one hit.
The Wolverines are now scheduled to play their next six at home. Following the series with Northern Colorado, UVU will host St. John's on March 9-10.
