April 11, 2011

OREM, Utah -- Utah Valley Baseball returns home after 12 straight on the road to host the University of Utah on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Brent Brown Ballpark. The game can be heard live on WolverineGreen.com.

The Wolverines (11-17, 4-0) will start junior Preston Olson while the Utes (13-12, 6-4 MWC) will start freshman Nick Green. Both are making their first Division I starts.

Utah Valley won four games in the Great West Conference at NJIT over the weekend in Newark, New Jersey. It was a record-setting weekend for UVU as three of the four games went into extra innings including two school-record 14-inning games. All four games were won in the team's final at-bat.

The weekend extended Utah Valley's Great West regular season winning streak to 14 games and it's all-time record to 30-2.

After two wins on Friday, including a 9-8, 14-inning win, junior Jeremy Gendlek set a school record vs. a Division I opponent by starting and throwing 10.0 scoreless innings on Saturday. Kai Hatch's two-run home run in the 11th helped Gendlek and UVU get a 2-0 win.

Then in the finale on Sunday, the Wolverines trailed 3-0 in the eighth until Goose Kallunki's three-run double tied it and again forced extra innings. Utah Valley broke it open with five in the 14th to get the win. Kyle Beecher tossed five scoreless innings and Ryan Chadwick followed with three and got the win.

Austin Heaps also had two game-winning RBI during the weekend, driving home a run with a sac-fly in the opener and getting a bases-loaded walk in the 14th inning on Sunday.

Utah is led by All-American C.J. Cron, who is batting .484 with six home runs, 11 doubles and 29 RBI. The Utes lost two of three to San Diego State over the weekend. Utah won the first meeting between the schools, 15-3, two weeks ago in Salt Lake City.

Following Tuesday's midweek contest, Utah Valley will travel to North Dakota in GWC action with a four-game series beginning Friday.