SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Utah Valley University was shut out in the opener of a three-game series, 8-0, at Sacramento State on Friday at John Smith Field. Right-hander Max Karnos went the distance for the Hornets (26-19, 13-6, allowing just three hits in the shutout win.
 
The Wolverines (26-19, 11-8) made loud contact several times during the game but only saw three balls drop for hits. Karnos struck out four and walked just one while the Sac State defense erased all three UVU players who had hits.
 
"I thought we did make some decent contact and hit some balls right at the defense. Karnos did a great job throwing strikes and offensively they took advantage of the opportunities they had," said UVU head coach Eric Madsen. "We didn't play very aggressive on the defensive side. You can play hard all the time and our guys have to come back and get to work."
 
Chris Lewis drove in four runs for the Hornets while Matt Smith went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Trent Goodrich scored three runs.
 
Karnos (5-3) and Utah Valley starter Patrick Wolfe (1-3) cruised through the first three innings. Wolfe retired the first 10 hitters of the game before Goodrich singled and then scored on a double by Smith.
 
The Hornets scored two in the fourth, two in the sixth and put the game away with four in the seventh.
 
The game lasted just two hours and 12 minutes, far and away the fastest game of the season for Utah Valley.
 
Game two is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. with rain in the forecast for the Sacramento area.