April 10, 2009
SACRAMENTO -- Justin Smith pitched into the seventh to earn his fourth win and Cole Anderson hit an eighth-inning grand slam as Utah Valley defeated Sacramento State, 9-6, to earn a doubleheader split on Friday. The Hornets (18-13) edged the Wolverines (11-22) in Friday's first game, 7-5.
Smith (4-3) allowed two runs on just three hits while striking out seven in 6.1 innings of work. Anderson hit his second career grand slam, and third homer of the year, to right with one out and UVU holding a slim 4-2 lead.
The Wolverines carried a 9-3 into the bottom of the ninth and held off a late Sac State rally that had the tying run on deck.
Sage Thorpe led a 14-hit attack with three hits, two RBI and two runs scored. Dick Bargewell, Kevin Arendse, Chris Benson and Anderson each had two-hit games. Josh Powers led the Hornets with three hits.
Sac State scored first in the first after a hit batter, stolen base, groundout and a wild pitch allowed a run to come in without a hit off of Smith.
UVU took the lead in the second on a bases-loaded single to left by Billy Burgess. Arendse, who led of the inning with an infield single, scored as did Thorpe, who initially held at third but came in when Aaron Crouch didn't field the ball cleanly in left.
Smith ran into minor trouble in the fourth with a two-out walk and then a bunt single by Powers, Sac State's first hit of the game. But Crouch struck out looking to end the threat and the inning.
Anderson led of the fifth with a single up the middle, stole second and then scored on Jake Rickenbach's single to right-center. UVU added another single run in the sixth when Bargewell doubled on the first pitch of the inning and then scored on a single by Thorpe, making it 4-2.
In the seventh, Sac State scored a run and had the bases loaded with its power-hitter, Tim Wheeler at the plate. Wheeler was retired though on a check-swing grounder to third that Bargewell charged and threw to Thorpe at first in time.
In the UVU eighth, Thorpe doubled with one out and Benson singled before Burgess was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Anderson.
In the first game, the Hornets jumped out to a 3-0 lead after three. Jace Brinkerhoff got the Wolverines on the board in the sixth on single up the middle that scored Jones.
Sac State answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. All three runs came with two outs an nobody on. Crouch singled and the Brent Hottman, Hunter Martinez and Derrick Chung hit three straight doubles to give the Hornets a 6-1 lead.
UVU scored twice each in the seventh and eighth to get within a run, 6-5. Burgess and Rickenbach both drove in runs in the seventh and Anderson and Benson both had an RBI in the eighth.
The Hornets got a big insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when a passed ball allowed Martinez to score for the final 7-5 tally.
Brinkerhoff was 3-for-5 in the first game while Thorpe and Benson both had two hits. Martinez led Sac State with three hits while Chung and Hottman had two apiece.
Kole Mickolio (1-3) took the loss while Jesse Darrah (6-2) got the win after seven innings of work. Jeff Roth, who hit a solo home run in the second inning, got his third save after pitching the ninth.
The two teams will meet in another doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at 11:30 a.m. PT.
