March 17, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
OREM, Utah - Utah Valley Baseball opens its 2010 home schedule this week when Portland comes to Brent Brown Ballpark for a three-game series beginning Thursday at 6 p.m. The teams are also scheduled to play Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m.
Service in Samoa
Fans can get into any of the series games for free by donating household products, educational items or athletic equipment for the people of Samoa that were affected by last September's tsunami. The Utah Valley Volleyball team will traveling to Samoa May 11-18 and providing supplies and humanitarian service to those in need. For a complete list of suggested items, click, HERE.
About the Wolverines
The Wolverines (4-6) were off last week after dropping three games at the Coca-Cola Classic in Surprise, Arizona. UVU lost 5-4 to Florida International, 8-6 to Cal Poly and were shut out, 9-0, by then No. 10 Oregon State. The Wolverines were also scheduled to play UC Riverside on Sunday, March 7, but the game was rained out.
Chris Benson leads the team with .489 average so far in 2010. Benson has 23 hits, seven doubles, two triples, two home runs, 13 batted in and an .851 slugging percentage. Sage Thorpe is right behind him, batting .459 and Utah Valley as a team is hitting .314. Billy Burgess leads the team with 18 RBI with 16 of those coming in the four-game series sweep at Southern Utah.
Home Sweet Home
After playing 19 home games in 2009, Utah Valley is scheduled to play 24 games at Brent Brown Ballpark in 2010. After returning from Arizona State's Coca-Cola Classic on March 7, Utah Valley will play its next 17 games in the state of Utah, 15 of those at home and two against the University of Utah on the road.
On Deck
The Wolverines play the first of consecutive Tuesday games at Utah on March 23 at 6 p.m. at Spring Mobile Ballpark in Salt Lake City. The two teams also meet up the following Tuesday, March 30. UVU hosts Gonzaga in a three-game series next weekend, March 25-27 at Brent Brown Ballpark.
About Portland
Portland enters this weekend at 10-5 after dropping three out of four games at a tournament at No. 13/18 Oregon State over the weekend. The Pilots lost twice to the Beavers and split two games with Utah.
Portland's pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.27 so far in 2010, with closer Chris Dennis sporting a 2-0 record and 0.64 ERA. Dennis has allowed just one earned run and struck out 19 against just three walks in 14 innings of work. Thursday's starter, Zach Varce, is 2-1 with a 1.65 ERA in four starts.
The Wolverines are 4-5 all-time against Portland. The Pilots won two out of three games last year in the season-opening series in Oregon between the clubs.
