May 3, 2009
GREELEY, Colo. -- Utah Valley jumped out to a huge lead and then had to hang on late to defeat Northern Colorado with a wild, football-like score of 23-21 on Sunday afternoon.
The Wolverines (16-30) led 17-0 after the top of the fourth and 19-2 in the fifth before the Bears (12-33) scored 15 unanswered runs to get within two.
UVU tied a school record with 26 hits, getting five each from Jace Brinkerhoff and Cole Anderson. It was also a single-game school record for both Utah Valley and Northern Colorado with 44 combined runs scored.
Jake Rickenbach hit a grand slam and drove in four, Billy Burgess was 3-for-4 with four RBI and Chris Benson and Goose Kallunki both had three hits as well.
Kevin Sandberg had a six-hit day while Mike Raudenbush homered twice and drove in five runs for the Bears.
The Wolverines scored eight in the third and six in the fourth while the Bears pushed across five in the fifth before a 10-run sixth.
Burgess got the scoring started with a home run to left to lead off the second, his eighth of the year. Ryan Jones drove home a pair of run with a two-out single to right that put the Wolverines up 3-0.
The big third for UVU started with an infield single by Anderson and after Brinkerhoff doubled, both runners scored on a single to center from Burgess. Benson drove in Burgess with a double and later scored on Kevin Arendse's double, Rickenbach capped the eight-run frame with the grand slam, his seventh home run of the season.
Arendse continued the scoring in the fourth with a triple to right-center that brought home two runs. Riley White brought Arendse home with a sacrifice to center before a two-out rally scored three more. Brinkerhoff singled Rickenbach home before Burgess nearly left the yard again with a double off the wall in right that scored Anderson.
Northern Colorado got a pair of runs back in the fourth with a two-run home run from T.J. Berge. But Anderson's single with two outs in the fifth scored White and Rickenbach, answering the two runs and making it 19-2.
Northern Colorado then made began its comeback with a big two-out rally in the fifth that led to five runs. Five hits, including the first two-run home run from Raudenbush, and an error contributed to the rally.
The 10 runs in the sixth brought the Bears all the way back within two, 19-17. Raudenbush homered for the second time is as many at-bats as UNC collected nine hits in the inning.
UVU jumped right back with two in the seventh on a single by Brinkerhoff and an RBI groundout by Kirk Doxey. Sage Thorpe tripled and scored on a sac-fly by Dick Bargewell in the eighth before a Kallunki sac-fly in the ninth gave the Wolverines a 23-17 lead.
Northern Colorado got a solo home run from Sandberg, an RBI double by Seth Budde and a two-run homer by pinch-hitter Adrian Schenk in the ninth. Brinkerhoff, who came in to pitch with a runner at second and nobody out, struck out Adam Hilker before getting Jarod Berggren to fly out to White in right to end the game.
The Wolverines won the season series, 6-2, against Northern Colorado after taking three of four on the weekend.
Utah Valley will now travel to Texas for a three-game series at Dallas Baptist beginning Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CT.
