April 11, 2010
OREM, Utah - Utah Valley held off a ninth-inning, two-out rally to defeat North Dakota 6-5 and complete a sweep of the four game series on Sunday afternoon at Brent Brown Ballpark. The win moves the Wolverines to 14-12 overall and 4-0 in Great West Conference play.
Chris Benson went 2-for-4 with two RBI and extended his hitting streak to a new school-record 24 games. Goose Kallunki also homered for the third straight game while Sage Thorpe added a home run as well.
"Chris can just flat out hit. He gets in and has a good approach. To do that 24 games in a row says a lot about him," said UVU head coach Eric Madsen. "As the weekend went on North Dakota started swinging it better and better and we hit some balls today that they made good plays on. I was just proud of our guys. They wanted the sweep and they stayed focused."
The Fighting Sioux (4-19, 0-4) made things interesting with a two-run homer by Aaron Cook with two outs in the top of the ninth. Andrew Gudmunson followed Cook with a double before Brian Whatcott came out of the bullpen and got pinch hitter Craig Dolmage to fly out to left to end the game and earn his third save of the season.
North Dakota opened the game with two runs in the top of the first, but Wolverines answered with a run in each of the first three innings. Benson singled in a run in the first, Kallunki tied it in the second with his home run and Thorpe gave UVU the lead with his homer in the third.
UVU starter Justin Campbell settled in after the two-run first and held the Fighting Sioux scoreless until they tied it in the sixth on a run that came in unearned after an error prolonged the inning before a pair of wild pitches.
Although he didn't figure into the decision, Campbell finished with a nice line: 5.2 innings, five hits, three runs (two earned), while striking out five and walking three.
Craig Brimhall allowed two runs on four hits in three innings of relief in earning the win to improve to 3-2 on the season.
Behind Kallunki's three-hit day, Benson, Jake Rickenbach and Jace Brinkerhoff all had two hits each for the Wolverines. Both of Rickenbach's hits were two-baggers and Cole McWhorter added a triple.
The Wolverines are back in action Tuesday night at 6 p.m. when they host the University of Utah. UVU is 2-0 this season against the Utes, having won both games played in Salt Lake City earlier this year.
