OREM, Utah—Jake Mayer pitched a complete game gem on Senior Night, giving up just two runs with seven strikeouts to lead the Utah Valley University baseball team to a 9-2 win over WAC leader Grand Canyon on Saturday night at Brent Brown Ballpark. UVU evens the three-game series at 1-1 heading into Sunday's noon finale and rubber match.
 
Utah Valley honored its seniors in a ceremony prior to the first pitch. Jason Jourdan, Patrick Wolfe, Zac Willis, Eric Olguin, Justin Erlandson, Logan Hold and Matt Davidson were each honored as the seniors are playing their final home games of their careers at Brent Brown Ballpark this weekend.
 
Mayer worked nine complete innings, giving up just two runs and seven hits to improve his record to 3-8 on the year. The junior hurler registered seven strikeouts in his second complete game win of the season and third complete game overall.
 
"Jake (Mayer) shutting it out in the first inning and allowing us to get ahead was gigantic," said Utah Valley head coach Eric Madsen. "For him to then go out and pitch the way he did and then our guys being aggressive and scoring runs in the second inning with five straight hits was good against a talented arm, especially coming back off of a tough loss last night. Jake just really dominated and controlled the game and allowed us to continue to keep the pressure on them. Jake dominated the game but it was great to see our guys come out and swing the bat well."
 
Zac Willis led the Utah Valley (16-31, 9-11) with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate with three RBI. Jackson Overlund went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Skyler Davis was 2-for-3 with one run and two RBI, while Erlandson was 1-for-3 with two runs.
 
After holding Grand Canyon (26-24, 19-4) scoreless in the top half of the first inning, Utah Valley got on the scoreboard as Overlund sent a two-run homer over the left field wall. Trevor Howell scored on the home run after hitting a single up the middle. The Overlund homer gave the Wolverines a 2-0 advantage after one inning of play.
 
Erlandson opened up the bottom half of the second with a double down the left field line before advancing to third on a Paul Estrada single to right. Skyler Davis continued the hitting streak with a triple to the right center gap that scored both Erlandson and Estrada. David Modler followed up Davis triple with a single up the middle to send Davis across the plate for the third run of the inning. With two outs, Zac Willis singled to centerfield to send both Peterson and Modler home as the Wolverines ended the inning with five runs to take a 7-0 lead.
 
The Wolverines continued the scoring in the bottom of the third as Erlandson took first after being hit by a pitch to open the inning. Estrada then singled to left field to push Erlandson to second. Davis walked to load the bases before Modler grounded into a double play which scored Erlandson to give UVU an 8-0 lead after three complete innings of play. Utah Valley scored another run in the bottom half of the fourth as Willis singled to left field to score Overlund who had doubled to third. The run gave the Wolverines a 9-0 advantage after four innings.
 
Grand Canyon got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth as Zach Malis tripled to right center to score Preston Pavilca from second. Greg Saenz then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Malis to cut the UVU lead to a 9-2 advantage.
 
The game lasted two hours and 35 minutes compared to Friday night's five-hour and 25-minute marathon.
 
Utah Valley and Grand Canyon will play the final game of the three-game series on Sunday. First pitch is set for noon at Brent Brown Ballpark.