May 19, 2011
OREM, Utah - Utah Valley clinched its second straight Great West Conference regular season title with a 5-1 win over Northern Colorado on Thursday night at Brent Brown Ballpark.
The Wolverines moved to 28-21 overall and 20-1 in the Great West as they clinched the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The Bears, now 22-28 overall, dropped to 18-5 in conference and will be the No. 2 seed.
Austin Heaps had a two-run double during a decisive four-run third inning and Jeremy Gendlek pitched 6.2 innings without allowing an earned run to improve his record to 6-3 overall and 5-0 in the Great West. Gendlek finishes the GWC regular season with just two earned runs allowed in 43.2 innings and a 0.41 ERA.
"I'm elated," said head coach Eric Madsen of clinching the conference title. "With all of the injuries we've had this year, to be able to stay with it and to be able to fight and do it the way we have has just been outstanding to see."
The score was knotted at 1-1 in the third when UVU began its half of the inning with four straight hits. Cole McWhorter drove in Kirk Doxey with a base hit to right and Chris Benson singled before Heaps drove a 3-2 pitch to the wall in right center to score both runners. Kai Hatch's sac-fly later brought home Heaps for what was the game's final run.
Gendlek fought through some issues with his command but didn't allow a hit after the second until a pair of two-out singles in the seventh. Kyle Beecher then came on and got T.J. Berge on a hard grounder right on the line at first on a quick stab by Goose Kallunki, ending the inning.
The Bears got a double, a walk and a single up the middle to start the ninth but a base-running mistake helped the Wolverines retire Tony Crudo around second on the base hit. Beecher then struck out Adam Hilker looking on a curveball and got Bret Fanning on a comebacker to end the game.
"Even though Gendlek didn't have his best stuff he gutted through some innings and it was good to see Beecher come in and get out of a couple of tough jams," Madsen said.
The series is scheduled to resume on Friday with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. MT. Saturday's series finale has been moved up and first pitch will now be at noon.
