April 1, 2010
OREM, Utah - After a 30-minute snow delay in the seventh inning, Utah Valley gave up seven runs in the final three innings on Thursday night at Brent Brown Ballpark to drop a 9-7 decision to Southern Utah.
The two teams will play a doubleheader Friday beginning at 1 p.m. at Brent Brown Ballpark, a change from the originally scheduled 3 p.m. start.
The Wolverines, clinging on to a one-run lead, wiggled out of a jam in the eighth when the T-Birds had runners on first and second and no outs, and almost worked their way out of one-out, bases-load predicament in the ninth, but the T-Birds plated four runs to put the game out of reach.
UVU's Jake Rickenbach, who went 3-for-3 on the night, doubled, and Sage Thorpe walked to begin UVU's threat in the bottom of the ninth. An SUU wild pitch put both runners in scoring position.
Rickenbach later scored in an RBI groundout by Jace Brinkerhoff, who had two RBIs on the night. After Chris Benson flew out for the second out of the inning, Austin Heaps singled but was picked off first base to end the game.
UVU reliever Craig Brimhall gave up three runs in 2.1 innings and was tagged with the loss. Starter Blake Krahenbuhl allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings but didn't figure into the decision.
With the loss, the Wolverines fall to 8-11, and are now 4-1 against the T-Birds this season.
Behind Rickenbach, Thorpe went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. Thorpe's dinger came in the bottom of the first inning to give the Wolverines the early advantage. SUU tied the score with single tallies in the second and third innings before the Wolverines took the lead in the bottom of the third.
Cole McWhorter, Rickenbach and Thorpe all reached to load the bases, and Brinkerhoff was later hit by a pitch, increasing the UVU lead to 3-2. Benson followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 4-2 Wolverines.
Kevin Arendse doubled to open the fourth and later scored on an error, and Kirk Doxey delivered an RBI single in the sixth and the Wolverines led 6-2 before the T-Birds mounted the comeback.
The T-Birds couldn't crack Krahenbuhl until the seventh. He walked the first two hitters he faced before being pulled for Brimhall just before the snow delay. In end, the T-Birds scored three runs in the frame to pull within a run.
SUU ran itself out of the eighth after having two runners on with no outs, before exploding for four runs in the ninth. Joe Goldenberg's two out bouncer up the middle scored two runs to put the T-Birds in front and Brock Westphal followed with a triple to put a pair of important insurance runs on the board.
For UVU, Benson doubled in the seventh inning and finished 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.
