Utah Valley Wolverines at USC Trojans
Friday, Feb. 16 - Sunday Feb. 18
7pm MT  |  3pm MT  |  2pm MT
Dedeaux Field  |  Los Angeles

 

QUICK HITS

Utah Valley begins its 15th season of NCAA Division I baseball in 2018.

The Wolverines are 3-11 all-time in season openers at 9-38-1 all-time on opening weekend.

Head coach Eric Madsen is 3-6 during his tenure in season-opening games, and 8-23 in opening series.

Last season, Utah Valley opened at Wichita State and were swept in a three-game series in which two of the contests were one-run decisions.

UVU returns 17 letterwinners from last season's team including seven starting position players, its top four pitchers in terms of starts made.

Among those returning are the top three batting averages from 2017 in Trevor Peterson (.348), Jackson Overlund (.337), and David Modler (.304).

Senior right-hander Jake Mayer will get his first opening-day start in Friday's contest at Southern California. Saturday's scheduled starter, Jackson Cofer, got the opening day nod in 2017.

Three seniors will see starts on the opening weekend, with Mayer, Cofer and Kaden Schmitt slated to make starts at USC.

The Trojans are one of three Pac 12 teams that UVU will see in 2018. The Wolverines will play Utah twice (once in Salt Lake City, once in Orem) and Arizona at UCCU Ballpark in a Monday night contest on April 30.

Trevor Peterson enters the season on a current nine-game hitting streak dating back to last season.

Of the 15 newcomers on the roster, seven are freshmen while the remaining eight are juniors and have prior experience at the junior college of Division II level. 
 

ABOUT THE TROJANS
Southern California was picked ninth in the Pac 12 preseason poll and is coming off of a season in which it finished 21-34 overall and 8-22 in league play. The series marks the first ever meetings between UVU and USC. The Trojans return five starting position players including shortstop Brandon Perez, who batted .328 in 2017, and Lars Nootbaar, who shared team-high home run honors with seven. 

WOLVERINES PICKED SIXTH
Utah Valley was picked to finish sixth in the 2018 WAC Preseason Coaches poll. Defending regular season champion Grand Canyon is the preseason favorite to win the 2018 title.  New Mexico State's Kyle Bradish and Mason Fishback were selected WAC Preseason Pitcher and Player of the Year, respectively.

NM State was picked second while defending tournament champion Sacramento State was slated third. Seattle U, CSU Bakersfield, UVU, UT Rio Grande Valley, Northern Colorado and Chicago State round on the poll. 

PRESEASON ACCOLADES
For the second straight season Utah Valley was left off the preseason All-WAC team in a vote of league coaches. Despite that, a few Wolverines are still garnering some preseason attention. 6-foot-4-inch freshman catcher Drew Sims is grabbing some attention before his first collegiate game, as he was tabbed as Baseball America's pick for WAC Freshman of the Year. The publication also listed Trevor Peterson as its No. 8-rated prospect in the WAC.

D1Baseball.com picked UVU fifth in its preseason poll and rated Jackson Cofer as the 16th-best and Ondrej Sebek the 19th-rated prospect for the 2018 draft. Paxton Schultz was tabbed as the No. 7 prospect for the 2019 draft and Sims and Drew Hill were among a list of 10 impact freshmen.

AROUND THE WAC
All nine times will be in action on the opening weekend of college baseball, with six teams opening up at home. Seattle U will be the first team to take the field as the Redhawks host Pacific in a four-game series, beginning at 4 p.m. PT on Friday. NM State hosts Towson, Sacramento State hosts Washington, CSU Bakesfield hosts UC Davis and UT Rio Grande Valley hosts both Central Michigan and Stephen F. Austin as part of the Al Ogletree Classic.

Northern Colorado is one of three schools to open on the road as the Bears will visit San José State while Utah Valley heads to L.A. to take on South California. Chicago State is the lone team to open the season on a neutral field, meeting up with LIU Brooklyn in Lexington, S.C. The marquee series of the week will be in Phoenix as Grand Canyon opens up the renovated Brazell Field at GCU Stadium with three games against 7th-ranked TCU.

WAC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO HOHOKAM
The 2018 WAC Tournament returns to Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona, where it's been for the last three seasons. The ballpark, renovated in 2015, serves as the Spring Training home the Oakland A's. The top six teams will advance to the tournament and a shot at the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

SEVEN SIGN WITH UVU
Seven players signed with Utah Valley during the fall signing period. Six will be freshmen in 2019 with one of the signees, Matt Dalke (Phoenix, Ariz.), the lone junior college transfer. The remaining signees are: Robert Brodell (Brawley, Calif.), Mason Gray (Phoenix, Ariz.), Jake Plecas (Flagstaff, Ariz.), Logan Petet (Boise, Idaho), Ty Vargas (Palmdale, Calif.), and Cole Yocum (Mesa, Ariz.).