Utah Valley vs UT Rio Grande Valley
Thursday, March 29 - Saturday, March 31
UCCU Ballpark  |  Orem, Utah
Video: WAC Digital Network
Audio: GoUVU.com



QUICK HITS

• Utah Valley University returns to WAC play with a three-game series against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley beginning Thursday at 6 p.m. MT at UCCU Ballpark. Friday's start will also be 6 p.m. while Saturday's finale will start at noon.
   
• Following the series with UTRGV, the Wolverines (9-13, 2-1) will close out their current nine-game homestand with two non-conference games against Air Force next Monday (6 p.m. MT) and Tuesday (1 p.m. MT).
   
• Last week, UVU won its second straight weekend series, opening WAC play by taking two of three from Northern Colorado. UVU dropped the opener, 8-4, before scoring season highs of 15 runs in both ends of a Saturday doubleheader. Utah Valley scratched out a win in Saturday's first game, 15-14, before a 15-5 win in a game that ended in eight innings via the 10-run rule.
   
• In the series-clinching finale, Trevor Peterson hit a grand slam while Ethan Payne and Michael Beltran also homered for the Wolverines. Peterson was 8-for-15 (.533) with the home run and six RBIs during the series while Ryan Eastburn went 6-for-11 (.545). UVU hit .387 as a team over the three-game span.
   
• Utah Valley scored 19 runs combined in the second inning of both games of Saturday's twin bill. The Wolverines scored 10 runs in the first game and followed that up with nine in game two. The outburst came after UVU had scored just six runs all season in the second inning of the first 19 games of the season.
   
• The Wolverines fell to BYU on Tuesday at UCCU Ballpark in the final match between the in-state foes this season. UVU has two more in-state games against Utah, on April 10 and April 17.

ABOUT THE VAQUEROS
UT Rio Grande Valley opened WAC play with winning two of three against CSU Bakersfield in Edinburg, Texas. The Vaqueros fell behind in the opener and couldn't come back, falling 8-5 before rattling wins of 5-0 and and 6-5. In the shutout win, Jorge Flores tossed eight scoreless innings and struck out six and on Monday was named the WAC Pitcher of the Week. In the rubber match on Sunday, Coleman Grubbs hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the eighth to break a 5-5 tie.

Utah Valley leads the all-time series 21-8 over UTRGV, and is 11-3 at home against the Vaqueros. The Wolverines have won five of six including a series sweep last season in Texas. UTRGV is led by first-year head coach Derek Matlock who was previously the ptiching coach at West Virginia.