UTAH VALLEY at FRESNO STATE
Friday, Feb. 15 - Monday Feb. 18
7pm MT/6pm PT | 7pm MT/6pm PT | 2pm MT/1pm PT | 3pm MT/2pm PT
Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium | Fresno, Calif.




OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University baseball team will officially open its 2019 season this weekend, Feb. 15-18, with a four-game series at Fresno State. The season-opening non-conference series will be contested at Fresno State's Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium. 
 
The Wolverines and Bulldogs will play a single game each day beginning with Friday evening contest at 7 p.m. MT/6 p.m. PT. The two teams will then play game two on Saturday night at the same time (7 p.m. MT/6 p.m. PT), before taking part in matinees on both Sunday (2 p.m. MT/1 p.m. PT) and Monday (3 p.m. MT/2 p.m. PT). All four games will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network and will also have live stats and live audio available by visiting GoBulldogs.com. 
 
"We're definitely excited for this team to get things started. I felt like the team did a good job over the course of the fall of preparing and working hard. Now it's time to put together a season that we can be proud of," head UVU coach Eric Madsen said. "The team has really been striving to improve and we're looking forward to getting to Fresno for the opening series."  
 
The Wolverines will enter 2019 off of a 15-37 overall record a season ago and a ninth-place finish in WAC play with a 6-18 conference mark. UVU will welcome back 17 returning letterwinners from 2018 as well as mix in 15 newcomers in 10 true freshmen and five JUCO transfers. The Wolverines also return seven of their 10 position-player starters this year, which includes seniors Trevor Howell (SS), Paul Estrada (3B), Michael Beltran (OF) and Ryan Eastburn (DH). 
 
After taking ninth in conference play a season ago, Utah Valley was again selected to finish ninth this season in the WAC Preseason Poll. The Wolverines will look to prove others wrong, however, and return to the postseason for the first time since 2016 when UVU won the WAC Tournament en route to advancing to the program's first NCAA Regional. 
 
"Our team really wants to go out and win," Madsen added. "We have goals just like anybody else. We want to win our league, win the conference tournament and get to another regional. Every team in college baseball has these same goals, but we definitely want to go out and win ballgames."
 
UVU lost nine seniors to graduation last season, which includes a pair of 2018 All-WAC honorees in first team all-conference selection Trevor Peterson (CF) and second team All-WAC honoree David Modler (2B). The Wolverines also lost key contributors Jackson Overlund (RF) and Jake Mayer (RHP). Peterson earned first team All-WAC honors in 2018 after leading UVU with a .306 average, a team-high 66 hits as well as 13 doubles, four homers and 32 RBIs, while Modler was named to the league's second team with behind a .294 average and nine doubles, five homers and 32 runs scored. Overlund too had a strong 2018 campaign for the Wolverines by hitting .302 with team-highs of seven homers, 14 doubles, four triples and 42 RBIs. Mayer was signed by the Seattle Mariners organization in the summer after registering a 3.51 ERA in a team-best 14 starts, 97.1 innings pitched and 70 strikeouts.  
 
To help fill the void, the Wolverines will welcome a number of talented newcomers to the team this year in JUCO transfers Matt Dalke (RHP, Phoenix, Ariz./Central Arizona), Jake Kirchhoff (C, Kennewick, Wash./Yakima Valley CC), Alexander Marco (OF, Las Vegas, Nev./Cochise College), Jesse Schmit (RHP, Queen Creek, Ariz./South Mountain CC) and Spenser Triplett (RHP, Providence, Utah/Mountain Crest HS), as well as freshmen Brady Bulger (INF, Goodyear, Ariz.), Romeo Carrillo (RHP, Palmdale, Calif.), Mason Gray (RHP, Phoenix, Ariz.), Andrew Hacker (OF, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.), Dalton Hill (C/1B, Lexington, Ky.), Mick Madsen (INF, Lehi, Utah), Logan Petet (LHP, Boise, Idaho), Jake Plecas (OF, Flagstaff, Ariz.), Ty Vargas (INF, Palmdale, Calif.) and Cole Yocum (LHP, Kearny, Ariz.).
 
Besides returning senior starters Howell, Beltran, Eastburn and Estrada, the Wolverines also welcome back senior Kody Hall (2B), juniors Jake Berry (LF) and Kade Poulsen (1B), and sophomores Pacen Hayes (1B) and Drew Sims (C), who could all see time in UVU's starting lineup this weekend. 
 
On the mound, Madsen will look to a trio of right-handed starters to lead the way. Senior Jake Carr, who went 4-1 in relief with 28 strikeouts in 28.0 innings in 2018, is scheduled to start on Friday night for UVU, while junior Paxton Schultz is slated to get the ball in game two and senior Walker Ramsey in game three. A yet-to-be-determined Wolverine will then get the nod on the mound in Monday's series finale. 
 
ALL-TIME IN SEASON OPENERS
Utah Valley begins its 16th season of NCAA Division I baseball in 2019. The Wolverines are 4-11 all-time in season openers and 10-40-1 all-time on opening weekend. A season ago, UVU won the opener, 5-1, at USC, but the Trojans would go on and take the series two games to one. Now in his 11th season at the helm of UVU, head coach Eric Madsen holds a 4-6 record on opening day and a 9-25 mark in opening series. 
 
ABOUT FRESNO STATE
The Bulldogs of the Mountain West Conference recorded their fourth straight 30-win season a season ago after going 30-24 overall and placing fifth in the MW with a 13-17 conference mark. Fresno State was picked to finish third in the Mountain West this season, but received one first-place vote and was just four points back of first-place San Diego State and one point back of Nevada for second. Fresno State won the National Championship in 2008 and has been to the College World Series four times. 
 
A pair of Bulldogs earned Preseason All-Mountain West honors this season in senior outfielder Zach Ashford and junior catcher Carter Bins. Ashford was a second team All-MW player a season ago in which he hit .352 with 77 hits and 18 doubles. Bins was the 2017 Mountain West Freshman of the Year and batted .301 a season ago with 18 doubles and 39 RBIs. 
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. FRESNO STATE
This weekend's series will mark just the second series in program history between the Wolverines and Bulldogs. Fresno State holds a 2-1 advantage all-time after taking two-of-three games in the lone series in Fresno in 2006. After the Bulldogs took games one and two, UVU responded by pulling out a 5-4 victory in game three. 
 
RAIN IN THE FORECAST 
With rain scheduled to hit the Fresno area on both Friday and Saturday, check back at GoUVU.com as well as @GoUVU and @UVUBaseball for updates on possible altered game times for the series. 
 
ON DECK FOR UTAH VALLEY
Following the opening series, UVU will next head to the East Coast to take part in a three-game series at South Carolina of the SEC next weekend (Feb. 22-24). The Wolverines and Gamecocks are scheduled to play Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. MT/4 p.m. ET, Feb. 23 at noon MT/2 p.m. ET and Feb. 24 at 11:30 a.m. MT/1:30 p.m. ET. All three games are scheduled to air live on SEC Network+.