April 10, 2011
NEWARK, New Jersey -- For the third straight game Utah Valley and NJIT played extra innings and for the third time in a row the Wolverines prevailed, 8-3 in 14 innings on Sunday afternoon.
The teams played 48 innings over three days; 23 during a doubleheader on Friday night - including the first 14-inning game - and 11 on Saturday before Sunday's finale. The win gives UVU (11-17, 4-0) a four-game sweep in the series and the 14 innings matches Friday's game as the most innings played in school history.
The Wolverines scored five times and sent 10 batters to the plate in the 14th. Billy Burgess led off and was hit by a pitch. After a sac-bunt and an error allowed Kirk Doxey to reach, Cole McWhorter sacrificed both runners over.
Chris Benson was intentionally walked to load the bases before Austin Heaps walked on four pitches to bring in Burgess for the go-ahead run Goose Kallunki, Alex Exon and Austin Haws also had runs batted in during the inning.
The Wolverines trailed 3-0 until the eighth behind a big starting performance from Tripp Davis. Davis tied a school-record for the Highlanders (5-19, 0-4) with 13 strikeouts over eight innings, matching Mark Leiter Jr's record that was set in Friday's 14-inning game.
In the eighth, Doxey led off with a base hit before McWhorter was able to reach on an error to put runners at first and second. Three batters later, with the bases full, Kallunki line the ball into the corner in right, scoring all three runs and tying the game at 3-3.
Utah Valley got three solid pitching performances on the day; Ty Hansen lasted six innings and allowed the three NJIT runs before Kyle Beecher threw 5.0 scoreless innings and Ryan Chadwick, who got the win, threw the final three frames.
Kallunki drove in four runs to lead Utah Valley while Benson and Hatch both had three hits with Exon adding two.
It was the 12th consecutive road game for the Wolverines, who will now return home to host Utah on Tuesday at 6 p.m. before embarking on another Great West trip to North Dakota with a four-game series that starts on Friday.
