ON DECK
Utah Valley University plays the first of five in-state games on Wednesday at the University of Utah. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. MT at Smith's Ballpark in Salt Lake City. The Wolverines and Utes will also meet on April 25 in Orem. UVU's three remaining in-state games will be against BYU.

IN THE HOLE
The Wolverines, the defending WAC Tournament Champions, open conference play this weekend against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The Vaqueros lead the WAC during the preseason with a 15-7 record and host Buffalo to finish a four-game series on Monday and will play at Texas on Wednesday. 

LAST TIME OUT
Utah Valley won its series opener against Creighton at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, 2-1, in 11 innings last Friday night before dropping the final three games of the series. The teams played one-run contests in the first three games before the Blue Jays' bats aided the home team in a lopsided series finale. 

During the series, the Wolverines got a pair of solid starting performances on the mound, beginning with Jackson Cofer on Friday night. Cofer pitched 7.1 innings and allowed just one run on four hits while striking out five. In game two, Jake Mayer had a career-high eight strikeouts in a career-long 8.0 innings but the Wolverines fell 3-2. 

Trevor Peterson led off game three of the series -- and game two of a Saturday doubleheader -- with a home run as the Wolverines raced out to a 5-0 lead. Creighton came back though, scoring six unanswered runs to earned the come-from-behind win. In Sunday's finale, Jackson Overlund had a two-run home run in the first but the Blue Jays used a pair of grand slams to earn a lopsided, 19-5, win to take three of four in the series. 

ABOUT UTAH
Utah is 9-8 on the season and is coming off a three-game sweep at Washington to open Pac-12 play. All three games in Seattle were low scoring with the Utes losing 3-1, 4-3 and 4-1. Utah has played six games against WAC schools so far this season, going 4-2. The Utes won two of three at CSU Bakersfield and two weeks ago won two of three at home against New Mexico State. 

SERIES HISTORY VS THE UTES
Wednesday's game marks the 50th all-time between the Utes and Wolverines with Utah Valley holding a 22-27 record against its neighbors to the north. UVU won all three meeting a season ago and have four of the last six overall.