April 28, 2009
OREM, Utah -- Billy Burgess was 4-for-5 and homered for the third straight game but Utah Valley dropped an 11-8 decision to Utah on Senior Night at Brent Brown Ballpark.
It was the final home game in the careers of Cole Anderson, Josh Hinckley and Ryan Jones. Anderson finished with a pair of hits including a double, Hinckley had a hit and an RBI and Jones also had a hit for the Wolverines (13-29). The fourth senior on the club, Jory Jensen, threw two innings in Monday's win over BYU in his final home appearance.
Cooper Blanc hit two home runs for the Utes (16-24) who won the season series over UVU 2-1. C.J. Cron also homered and drove in four runs for Utah on a 3-for-4 night.
Brock Sargent (2-7) took the loss after tossing 4.2 innings and giving up six earned runs (seven total) on seven hits. Bennett Askew threw 1.2 innings out of the bullpen and got the win while Stephen Streich earned his first save after escaping the ninth with the tying run at the plate.
Utah scored two in the first and one in the second to take an early 3-0 lead. The Wolverines got two back in the bottom of the second. With runners at first and second, Hinckley hit a soft single to right that Gavin Green misplayed, allowing both runners to score.
The Utes had back-to-back two-out doubles in the third to take a 4-2 lead before Burgess' home run, with two outs and an 0-2 count in the bottom of the inning, tied the game. Chris Benson then singled, stole second and came in to score the go-ahead run on Kevin Arendse's single.
Blanc hit his first home run in the fifth with one aboard and two outs, chasing Sargent from the game and giving the Utes the lead for good.
A three-run sixth for Utah made it 9-5 before two errors helped the Wolverines to two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Benson, who reached on an error, scored when Hinckley's grounder got by Austin Jones at first. Anderson then doubled to right to plate Hinckley for the second run of the inning.
Blanc made it 10-7 Utes with a solo shot in the seventh. That run was answered with a two-out rally in UVU's half of the inning. Jace Brinkerhoff was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a Burgess single. Benson brought Brinkerhoff home with a double to left to make it a two-run game.
The Wolverines had the tying run at second but Greg Krause came in and got Arendse to ground out to short to end the inning.
After Cron gave Utah some extra insurance with a solo shot in the ninth, Utah Valley made it interesting in its final at-bat. Burgess singled with one out and Benson followed with a walk. Brandon Hill then came off the bench and on a 3-2 pitch flew out to the warning track in right. Streich then struck out Dick Bargewell to end the game.
Brinkerhoff was 0-for-4 in his bid to become Utah Valley's all-time hit leader. He'll now have to do it away from home as the Wolverines travel to Northern Colorado for a four-game series beginning Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. UVU will play its final 11 games of 2009 away from home.
