Utah Valley at Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament
Feb. 26-28, 2016
Santa Clara, California (Schott Stadium)
UVU Series Notes (pdf)

UVU at Santa Clara
Friday, Feb. 26  |  6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT
Live Video  |   StatBroadcast

UVU vs. UC Davis
Saturday, Feb. 27  |  2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT
StatBroadcast

UVU vs. Saint Joseph's
Sunday, Feb. 28  |  10 a.m. PT/11 a.m. MT
StatBroadcast

UVU vs. UC Davis
Sunday, Feb. 28  |  2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT
StatBroadcast
 

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Pitching Probables
Fri vs Santa Clara: RHP Danny Beddes (1-0, 0.00) vs RHP Peter Hendron (0-0, 4.50)
Sat vs UC Davis: LHP Jackson Cofer (1-0, 3.60) vs RHP Nat Hamby (0-0, 3.18)
Sun vs Saint Joseph's: RHP Kaden Schmitt (0-1, 1.69) vs RHP Tim Brennan (0-0, 0.00)
Sun vs UC Davis: RHP Jake Mayer (0-1. 10.38) vs TBA

Series Notes
Utah Valley University continues its stay in the Bay Area and will play at the five-team Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament. The Wolverines (3-2) will face Santa Clara, Saint Joseph's, and UC Davis two times. No. 15 Michigan is also part of the tournament but will not face Utah Valley.

UVU is coming off of an 8-4 win over the University of San Francisco on Wednesday in a game played at Cal's Evans Diamond in Berkeley. The Wolverines trailed 3-0 early before getting a flurry of key, two-out RBIs to earn the win. Tied 4-4 in the seventh, UVU rallied after there were two outs and nobody on base to score three runs. Zac Willis singled before Paul Estrada doubled him home. Ryne Edmondson followed with another double and Greyson Bogden singled home Edmondson to give the Wolverines a 7-4 lead. Bogden added a home run in the ninth for the final tally.

On the mound, five relievers combined to pitch the final 7.2 innings and struck out nine while walking just one and only one unearned run coming in against the group. Greg McCuch picked up the win after his 2.0 innings of work. Garrett Bowman and Patrick Wolfe each struck out three in their relief appearances.

The Opposition
This weekend marks the first time that UVU and Santa Clara have met since the 2008 season. The Broncos won both games of a doubleheader (12-1 and 7-2) on Feb. 22, 2008, in the only prior meeting. Santa Clara is off to a good start after taking two of three from Notre Dame at home to open the season. The Broncos, of the West Coast Conference, also won at San Jose State, 7-4, on Tuesday. SCU is hosting UC Davis to begin this weekend's tournament on Thursday.         

Utah Valley and UC Davis have met five times prior to this weekend, with the Aggies winning four of five, all at home. The teams have not faced one another since the 2006 season. The Big West Conference Aggies are 1-4 entering Thursday's contest against Santa Clara. They dropped three of four at home against Portland on the opening weekend and also lost a home game to Stanford, 5-2, on Monday.

Utah Valley and Saint Joseph's have never met. Saturday also marks the first time the Wolverines will face a school from the Atlantic 10. The Hawks open the tournament, and their season, against No. 15 Michigan on Friday. Saint Joseph's finished 21-28 in 2015 and were led by the returning duo of Deon Stafford and John Brue. Stafford batted .341 and had 19 doubles to lead the team as a freshman. Brue batted .322 and hit 13 home runs to earn First Team All-Conference in the A10.

On Deck
Utah Valley travels to Pac 12 Washington State next weekend in a four-game series in Pullman, Washington. The series begins on Thursday, March 3 and concludes on Sunday, March 6. It's the final series prior to UVU returning to Utah where they'll face BYU on Tuesday, March 8. The home opener is scheduled for March 10 in the first of four games against the University of Portland.