April 7, 2009
OREM, Utah - Four Utah Valley pitchers combined to two-hit Utah and Kirk Doxey homered for the fourth straight game as the Wolverines (10-21) defeated the Utes (13-15) 8-2 on Tuesday night at Brent Brown Ballpark.
Brock Sargent started and threw five-plus innings, allowing no earned runs (two total) on two hits while striking out three. Kole Mickolio, Riley Gordon and Justin Smith threw four combined innings of hitless relief. Smith struck out two in a perfect ninth to end the game.
"We were challenged by Coach Carter after last weekend to turn it around and we stepped up to that challenge," said Sargent, who moved to 2-5 on the year with the win. "Our defense made some big plays for us too. A big double play that ended the inning and Doxey's catch were both game-turning plays."
Doxey's catch came in the sixth, after Sargent walked Corey Shimada to lead off the inning and was lifted for Mickolio. Tyler Yagi hit a hard fly ball to left-center and Doxey, on a full sprint, robbed Yagi of an extra-base hit when he dove and snagged the ball right next to the warning track.
"We had very good intensity throughout the entire night," said head coach Eric Madsen. "It was awesome to see our pitchers respond after Dave got after them."
The Wolverines continued their tear at the plate, reaching double digit hits for the eighth straight game. During that time they are hitting .420 as a team and averaging nearly 11 runs a game.
Four players had multi-hit games led by a 3-for-4 night from Chris Benson. Ryan Jones had two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs with a fourth inning double. Jake Rickenbach and Sage Thorpe also had two-hit nights.
UVU took a 2-0 lead in the first with the first run coming on a double steal of second and home that scored Rickenbach. Thorpe then delivered a two-out RBI double off the top of the wall in center that scored Jones for the second run of the inning.
Utah scored when two Wolverine errors on one play allowed Nick Kuroczko to score from first. C.J. Cron then came home on a sac-fly by Devin Walker.
Jace Brinkerhoff gave Utah Valley the lead back in the third when he doubled to left-center, scoring Jones from first. Brinkerhoff scored to make it 4-2 when Thorpe grounded into a double play.
Benson led off the fourth with double and Doxey walked before Rickenbach sacrificed them over. Jones then delivered his double to right-center, giving the Wolverines a 6-2 lead.
Then in the eighth, Benson singled with one out before Doxey's home run, a blast to right-center on a 2-2 pitch, made it 8-2. It was his team-high ninth of the year and sixth in the last four games.
Utah Valley will travel to Sacramento State for doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday. Play on both days is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. MT.
