Feb. 18, 2010

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OREM, Utah -- College baseball gets into full swing this weekend as Utah Valley opens its 2010 campaign with a three-game series at the University of Arizona beginning Friday at 6 p.m. MT. The series continues Saturday at 6 p.m. with the finale Sunday at noon at Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium in Tucson. Live stats are available by going to ArizonaAthletics.com.

Eric Madsen enters his second season as head coach at Utah Valley. His squad finished 18-35 in his first season and batted .329 as a team, UVU's highest team average in it six NCAA seasons. The Wolverines are led by senior Jace Brinkerhoff, who batted .433 with 94 hits in 2009.

Madsen is trying to reverse Utah Valley's opening-weekend struggles. The Wolverines are 0-6 in their first six season openers and 2-16 in season-opening series. UVU has opened the season once before at Arizona, losing 4-2 and 13-2 to open the 2007 season.

Arizona is coming off of a 30-25 season in 2009 and is a win away from becoming just the seventh school ever to notch 2,500 wins. The Wildcats are young, with 22 newcomers including 17 freshmen on the roster. Arizona has won all eight games in the all-time series between the two teams and has been ranked in six of those games.

UVU makes the short trip to Cedar City next week to face Southern Utah in a four-game series beginning Thursday, Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. Friday is a doubleheader beginning at noon and Saturday's finale is scheduled for 2 p.m.

2010 Season Preview
Eric Madsen's 2010 squad returns eight of 10 starters from last year, including its top seven hitters off of a team that batted a school-record .329 a season ago. Over the final 30 games of 2009, a decent sample size, UVU hit .371 as club.

"The track record shows us there is reason to be excited. That's something we know that's returning," said Madsen of the offense. "We'll definitely have more power. That's one of the areas our offense that has to improve. We're going to be better at the other parts of the game as well. Bunting the baseball, stealing bases, going from first to third."

Of the eight starters, Jace Brinkerhoff returns off of a remarkable 2009 campaign in which he hit .433 and shattered the school record with 94 hits. The First Team Division I All-Independent performer became the school's career hit leader and career average leader during his junior season as well.

"We know he'll hit. Having him everyday in your lineup is awesome to have. He can do so many things. He's got all the tools," said Madsen. "Jace is our cornerstone and he's proven that over the past four years."

Billy Burgess is back after a freshman season that saw him finish second on the team with a .381 average, eight home runs and 42 batted in just 38 games. Burgess, who was named the Division I Independent Newcomer of the Year, was a perfect 4-for-4 with three grand slams and 14 RBI with the bases loaded during his rookie campaign. He is also carrying with him a 14-game hitting streak into the beginning of the season.

Other returners include junior Chris Benson, who capped an impressive second-half by hitting for the cycle at Hawai'i, seniors Kevin Arendse and Sage Thorpe, junior Jake Rickenbach and sophomores Kirk Doxey and Goose Kallunki.

Benson raised his average 90 points over the final month-and-a-half of the season and finished at .336. Arendse hit a career-high .313 and Thorpe batted a quiet .370 splitting his time between serving as Arendse's back up behind the plate, at first base and DH.

Rickenbach showed flashes of pop with seven home runs while batting .322 and driving in a team-high 43 runs. Doxey led the team with 10 home runs and hit three in one game in a series against Air Force and Kallunki entrenched himself in the lineup after a 10-for-15 series at Northern Colorado in early May.

Three possible impact bats that could find their names on daily lineup card include Austin Heaps, Jason Zundel and Cole McWhorter. All three will see their first action since returning from LDS missions. Heaps hit .348 with seven home runs and 54 batted in as a freshman in 2007 and can play in the outfield and at first base but will spend a lot of time as the team's DH.

Zundel and McWhorter were both back from missions prior to 2009 but both redshirted due to injuries. Zundel is the probably opening day left fielder while McWhorter will get the nod at second base.

"Those guys are all different. Heaps is a consistent run producer that'll hit home runs and drive guys in," said Madsen. "The other two do have pop but they're more run scorers. They'll get on and steal bases, take the extra bases. Having those guys back is a giant addition to our program. It makes our offense that much better."

The team's biggest question mark remains the pitching staff, which is at the forefront of nearly every college baseball's to-do list. After losing staff ace Justin Smith to the MLB Draft after his stellar junior season, Madsen and pitching coach Dave Carter reloaded the staff with JC transfers, freshmen and a reliance on last year's younger pitchers to step into new roles.

"We have some good arms and pitching coach Dave (Carter) has done a great job with them but they have to show us what they can do in games," Madsen said. "We've been pleased with their progress but that's one of the biggest unknowns."

Senior Brock Sargent is the lone returning starting pitcher and Madsen will use the season's opening weeks of the season to let the staff and each pitcher's role sort itself out. Junior Kyle Beecher had one of his best two performances of 2009 come in his final appearance in what was his only start. He tossed 6.0 innings and allowed two runs on two hits in a win at Hawai'i and will get the nod as the opening day starter at Arizona.

JC transfers Sam Armstrong (Southern Idaho) and Zane Gray (Salt Lake) will also get starts in the opening series at Arizona and Madsen may lean on Craig Brimhall to serve as the team's closer, a role he had as a freshman in 2007 before embarking on an LDS mission.

2010 also marks the beginning of the new Great West Conference. The conference includes affiliate members New York Tech (NYIT) and Northern Colorado as well as six other Great West schools. The conference schedule will comprise half of the season schedule with Utah Valley traveling to NYIT and UNC as well as series at Houston Baptist and Chicago State. The Wolverines host NJIT, Texas-Pan American and North Dakota in conference play.

"For the most part the conference is unknown but our goal is to win the conference. It's a good goal to have and its something that we've never had to opportunity to do before," said Madsen. `We want to know where our club is at by the time we get into conference play. If that means we give guys more opportunities early on to see who's going to be there for us then that's what we'll do."

The 28-game non-conference schedule includes the opening series at Arizona and a trip to the Coca Cola Classic in Surprise, Arizona with games against Florida International, No. 14 (USA Today/ESPN) Oregon State, UC Riverside and Cal Poly.

West Coast Conference programs Portland and Gonzaga will both be in Orem in late March for three-game series. The Wolverines also play 13 in-state games with eight coming against Southern Utah, three vs. Utah and two against BYU.

The season culminates with the inaugural GWC Tournament May 26-29 at Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas.