March 5, 2009

OREM, Utah - The Utah Valley University baseball team (4-4) is off to its best start since joining the NCAA Division I ranks after winning both games in a double-header Thursday against Northern Colorado (4-6), a future Great West Conference opponent.

The Wolverine offense exploded for a combined 31 hits and 23 runs between the two games as they beat the bears 9-4 in the early game and 14-7 in the late game. Sophomore Kyle Beecher and junior Brock Sargent each picked up their first wins of the season.

Sophomore Jake Rickenbach set a school record with two triples in the second game. Senior Cole Anderson and freshman Riley White also hit triples in the game to help UVU set a new school record as a team with four triples in a game.

"It's good to finally see our players come out and swing it the way we thought they were capable of all year," UVU head coach Eric Madsen said. "Rickenbach had those two triples, but his biggest hit of the day came in the first game with a two-RBI single when the game was tied 4-4. That just gave him confidence. I thought our pitching was outstanding, and that all of our guys pitched out of some tough spots. Northern Colorado was competitive throughout both games, but our guys were able to bear down and make some big pitches."

Anderson led off in the first inning of the second game with his triple and was brought home on a sacrifice fly from junior Jace Brinkerhoff. Brinkerhoff went 4-for-4 in the game with a homerun, two runs, four hits, and four RBI. Anderson then hit the team's first homerun of the season, a three-run jack, in the second inning to push the Wolverine lead to 4-0 after two innings.

Northern Colorado put two runs on the board in the third, but Utah Valley countered with two more runs in the fourth and another six runs in the fifth inning to extend its lead to 11-2. All of the Wolverines' runs in the six-run fifth came with two outs. Freshman Kirk Doxey also hit his first homerun his career in that frame.

Sargent threw 109 pitches in 5.2 innings and gave up eight hits and five runs with four walks and three strikeouts in his first career win. Junior Riley Gordon came on in relief to throw 3.1 innings and give up two runs on four hits with no walks and four strikeouts for his first save this season.

Utah Valley got on the board first in the early game on an Anderson RBI in the fourth inning. Northern Colorado scored three runs in the top of the fifth, but UVU knotted the score at 3-3 in the bottom half of the inning. The Bears scored one more run in the top of the sixth, but the Wolverines scored three runs in the seventh and three in the eighth to pull away for the win.

Junior Justin Smith started on the mound for UVU and gave up four runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts in six complete innings, but went without a decision. Beecher came on to close out the last three innings and gave up no runs on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts to pick up his first win since 2006, prior to leaving the team for two years for an LDS mission.

The four-game series will continue Friday at 3 p.m. at Brent Brown Ballpark, and the last game of the series is scheduled for 12 p.m. on Saturday.