May 16, 2010
OREM, Utah - A day after watching several school records fall, the Utah Valley baseball team served up quite an encore, dominating its way to a 23-2 win over NJIT on Sunday to clinch the first-ever Great West Conference Championship.
"I'm really proud of our guys. We had a goal to win the regular season championship and we've done that," said head coach Eric Madsen. "We still have goals that we're trying to accomplish too. This is a special group. Today we just kept hitting and did a great job offensively and Kyle Beecher pitched great for us."
Seniors Jace Brinkerhoff and Kevin Arendse both hit two-run home runs for the Wolverines (33-17, 22-2 in GWC) in the final home game of their four-year careers at UVU.
Brinkerhoff got things started in the first when ripped a shot down the line in right for his 11th home run. Chris Benson also got a sac-fly and an RBI when Billy Burgess scored from second to give the Wolverines a 3-0 lead after one.
UVU added three more in both the third and fourth before really breaking the game open with a seven-run fifth. Arendse homered as part of the fifth and Burgess added a two-run triple.
After the Highlanders (11-39, 7-16 in GWC) got on the board with an unearned run in the eighth, the Wolverines added another seven-run frame on their way to scoring the program's biggest margin of victory -- 21 runs -- in seven NCAA seasons.
Beecher pitched seven shutout innings, striking out two without a walk on five hits and improved to 3-2.
Utah Valley outscored NJIT 67-13 over the four-game series and finished the Great West home season a perfect 12-0. The Wolverines also walked 33 times and were struck out just 11 times in the series.
Brinkerhoff finished 3-for-4, drove in four and scored four times in what was his 200th career game, more than any other player in Utah Valley history. He now has 68 runs batted in and 72 runs scored on the year. Benson's two-RBI day gives him 71 on the season.
Goose Kallunki had three hits while Derek Amicone, Austin Heaps and Jake Rickenbach added two hits apiece. Burgess had two steals and scored three times on the day and Kirk Doxey came off the bench and hit a three-run home run in the eighth.
UVU will play at BYU in its final non-conference game of the year on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The game can be seen live on BYU-TV.
From there the Wolverines wrap up the conference regular season with four games at Houston Baptist starting Thursday. The GWC Tournament begins Wednesday, May 26 in Edinburg, Texas.
