April 13, 2010
OREM, Utah - Utah Valley had its five-game overall winning streak and its two-game winning streak over the University of Utah snapped Tuesday night with a 5-3 loss to the Utes at Brent Brown Ballpark. Despite the loss the Wolverines (14-13) still won two out of three from the Utes (17-13) to take the season series.
Three Utah pitchers held UVU, which came in batting .358, to just eight hits and struck out 15 batters. Three of Utah Valley's hits came from Billy Burgess. Sage Thorpe had two base knocks while Chris Benson had his school-record 24-game hitting streak snapped by going 0-for-3 in the loss.
"It would have been nice to sweep that series but we did still win it and now we have bigger things to worry about," said UVU head coach Eric Madsen. "Utah threw the ball well. We had some opportunities where we maybe tried to do too much. I would have liked to see us do a little better job at the plate. Utah just played a little better than us tonight."
The Utes (17-13) scored three runs in the top of the first inning thanks in part to a big two-run homer by C.J. Cron. Utah starter Andrew Wilding held the Wolverines scoreless over the next four innings while allowing just three hits.
The Wolverines finally got on the board in the fifth on a two-run single by Thorpe to score Kirk Doxey and Derek Amicone, who singled and doubled, respectively. UVU, however, gave the runs right back in the top of the sixth as the Utes increased the lead back up to three at 5-2.
The Wolverines, who left two runners on base in the sixth and one in the seventh, had two runners on with no outs in the eighth and managed just one run on a RBI sac fly by Goose Kallunki to score Benson, who was hit by a pitch to open the frame. The Wolverines left eight runners on base in the game.
Wilding, who earned the win and moved to 3-2, and reliever Zach Adams held the Wolverines to just eight hits in the first eight frames. Wilding struck out seven and Adams retired six of his seven outs via strikeout. Brock Duke fired a perfect ninth for the Utes to earn his fourth save.
C.J. Healy, who fell to 0-1 with the loss, made his first start of the season and went 1.2 innings in which he allowed three runs on three hits. Kyle Beecher allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits, while Ryan Chadwick threw three scoreless innings for UVU.
The Wolverines are back in action Friday when they open a key four-game Great West Conference series with Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo.
