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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Utah Valley University will play four games this weekend at the Lobo Invite beginning Friday at noon MT against San Francisco. The Wolverines will face USF again on Saturday at 1 p.m. MT before a 5 p.m. MT first pitch against host New Mexico. The weekend concludes on Sunday against the Lobo at 1:30 p.m. MT.
The Wolverines (1-6) picked up their first win of the season last Sunday against Long Beach State, 8-3. Sophomore lefthander
Patrick Wolfe took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and picked the win on the mound for UVU. Freshman
Jake Mayer was also big in his first appearance for Utah Valley. Mayer entered with the bases loaded and a 4-2 lead in the seventh inning and struck out three of the first four hitters he faced and preserved a one-run lead. The Wolverines tacked on four insurance runs in the top of the ninth with two scoring on a
Mark Krueger base hit.
Utah Valley and San Francisco (West Coast Conference) have met twice before, but not since the 2006 season. The Dons won both games, in San Francisco, by scores of 2-0 and 7-6. It will be
Eric Madsen's first time facing USF as UVU head coach. He was an assistant when the Wolverines and Dons met earlier. San Francisco enters the weekend 0-8 overall but has played series at 5th-ranked Texas Tech and at Tulane, which have combined records of 17-2 so far this season. The Dons dropped four in Lubbock on the opening weekend and, after a midweek loss to San Jose State, dropped three to Tulane by a total of four runs including two one-run losses.
New Mexico (Mountain West Conference) is 3-1 all-time against Utah Valley, sweeping a 2006 series at Isotopes Park. Last year the teams met in a midweek at Lobo Field, with the Wolverines jumping out early in an eventual 12-8 win. New Mexico's early-season win column includes two victories over Oregon State in a tournament in Surprise, Arizona. The Lobos also defeated Northwestern and took two of three from Air Force last weekend in their home-opening series. The series was supposed to take place in Colorado Springs but was moved to Albuquerque due to inclement weather. The three-time defending Mountain West Conference Champions, New Mexico was picked to win the league again after sharing the title last year.
The Wolverines will open their home schedule next weekend with a four-game series against Saint Mary's at Brent Brown Ballpark. That series begins Friday March 6 at 5 p.m. with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon and the finale on Sunday at noon. UVU also welomes BYU the following Tuesday, March 10 in the first midweek game and the first of three against the Cougars this season.
