May 21, 2011
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OREM, Utah - Utah Valley notched its second straight 30-win season with a 6-2 victory over Northern Colorado in the final home game of the year on Saturday at Brent Brown Ballpark.
The Wolverines finished the regular season 30-22 overall and for the second year in a row lost just two games in the Great West Conference, going 22-2 to win back-to-back regular season titles. UVU will begin defense of its 2010 tournament title on Tuesday against Chicago State in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
"To get to the 30-win plateau is something that we really wanted to achieve," said head coach Eric Madsen. "It's something that represents our program well and it's a good boost for us going into the conference tournament."
On Saturday, Kirk Doxey was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Austin Heaps also had three hits, drove in a run and scored twice.
After Northern Colorado took a 1-0 lead in the first, Utah Valley tied it in the second on a sac-fly by Court Zollinger that brought home Heaps.
The Bears (23-30, 19-7) took the lead in the fifth when Ben Packard hit a sacrifice fly to score Harrison Lambert before a three-run bottom half of the fifth gave the Wolverines the lead for good.
Billy Burgess walked and then went all the way to third on a errant pick-off attempt by pitcher Chris Carlberg. After Zollinger drew a walk, Doxey tied it on a fielder's choice to short that scored Burgess from third.
Cole McWhorter also singled in the inning before Heaps hit a two-out RBI single and Goose Kallunki followed with an RBI double to give Utah Valley a 4-2 lead.
The Wolverines added another two-out run in the seventh when Hatch lined a base hit to right that scored Heaps, who doubled with one out. The final run came in the eighth after Burgess singled, stole second and then scored on a base hit to center by Doxey.
Craig Brimhall threw 3.1 innings in relief and picked up his fourth win of the year while senior Brock Sargent threw the final 1.2 innings and got his second save. Utah Valley's team ERA in the Great West finished at 3.16 and is an even 5.00 overall entering next week's tournament.
"Our pitching has carried us all year, plain and simple," Madsen said. "Dave (Carter) has done a terrific job with them. To have our pitchers improve and do what they've done is outstanding."
Prior to the game, seniors Kyle Beecher, Chris Benson, Zane Gray and Sargent were all honored on Senior Day. All four had contributions in UVU wins during the final series of the year. In addition to Sargent's save, Beecher earned a save in Thursday's opener while Gray got the win in the first game of Friday's doubleheader. Benson had two hits, two RBIs and three runs scored in Gray's win.
Brackets and times for the Great West Tournament will be made official late Saturday or Sunday. The tournament will follow a double-elimination format with all eight GWC teams participating.
