Feb. 27, 2010
ST. GEORGE, Utah - Utah Valley scored six times in the 13th inning to survive a wild 19-13 win and complete of a four-game sweep of Southern Utah on Saturday in rainy St. George.
Cole McWhorter scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and the Wolverines (4-3) tacked on five more runs in the 13th. Jason Zundel, who threw out what would have been the game-winning run from left field in the bottom of the ninth, drove in a run in the 13th and Chris Benson and Kevin Arendse both had two-RBI doubles in the inning.
UVU jumped out to a 10-1 lead after the top of the second and seemed on its way to an easy win, but the T-Birds (0-8) fought back and actually took a lead in the eighth.
With the bases loaded the Wolverines up a run in the eighth, Brock Westphal hit a high fly ball that left the park, clearing the bases. But Westphal was ruled to have passed the runner at first base and was out on the play, putting SUU up two instead of three runs, 13-11.
The Wolverines scored twice in the ninth to extend the game, the first on a double to right by Goose Kallunki. After McWhorter singled, Kallunki was caught between third and home and tagged out for the second out.
"That's one of the toughest things in baseball. To give a lead away and then come back and battle through, especially after a home run....that shows our progression as a ball club," said UVU head coach Eric Madsen.
McWhorter, who moved up to second when Kallunki was in the run-down, got to third on a wild pitch and then scored the tying run when Jake Rickenbach's grounder to third was bobbled and then thrown away.
In the bottom of the ninth, Matt Romero singled to left with one out when Zundel fired home and Arendse tagged out D.J. Andrade, who tried to score from second and would have been the winning run.
Both teams got big appearances from its relief staff. Wolverine pitcher Craig Brimhall tossed 5.2 innings in relief and held SUU scoreless over the final five innings and got the win. SUU's Kelsey Outram tossed 5.1 innings and surrendered just one earned run until UVU put up six in the 13th.
"It's awesome for him confidence-wise. I think he realizes how good he can be," said Madsen of Brimhall. "You get in there in a tough situation and you make a bad pitch and give up a home run you can start to doubt yourself. Any one of those innings he could have laid down but he didn't."
Utah Valley scored six times in the first. Billy Burgess got things started with a three-run home run before Benson hit a solo shot to go back-to-back. After an error prolonged the inning, McWhorter doubled home Arendse and Kallunki.
After the T-Birds scored a single run in the bottom of the first, Austin Heaps hit a three-run homer as part of a four-run second to put the Wolverines up 10-1.
Southern Utah scored three in the third, two in the fifth and four times in the seventh, three of which were unearned, to trim the lead to 11-10 before Westphal's at-bat in the eighth.
Benson finished 4-for-8 with four RBI, Heaps also was 4-for-8 with three batted in. Burgess, who left the game early after colliding against the wall in right early on, went 10-for-16 with four doubles, two home runs and 16 RBI in the four-game series.
Sage Thorpe had three hits in the game and was 11-for-19 in the series while Rickenbach, Jace Brinkerhoff, Kallunki and McWhorter all had two hits each. Brinkerhoff was walked intentionally twice in extra innings with first base open.
Taylor Shaw of Southern Utah was 5-for-7 on the day and drove in five runs. Bucky Aona had two hits including a home run and was also walked twice intentionally in the extra frames.
It's the first four-game sweep for Utah Valley at the Division I level, now in its seventh season of NCAA D-I competition.
"Our guys were really focused on accomplishing that. It shows that we're becoming more focused and were not satisfied with just a couple of wins," Madsen said.
Next week the Wolverines travel to Surprise, Arizona for the Coca-Cola Classic and games against Florida International, Oregon State, Cal Poly and UC Riverside.
