LAS CRUCES, N.M. –
Brianna Moeller went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs as Utah Valley University topped New Mexico State, 9-7, in the first game of a Saturday doubleheader. The Wolverines (12-19, 4-5) dropped the night cap, 6-1, to give the Aggies (19-15, 3-3) the series win.
In the first game of the day, both teams got single runs in the first with
Lyndsay Steverson driving home
Abby Doughty and NM State's Victoria Castro answering in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run.
Utah Valley put up four runs in the second, the first of two four-run innings for the Wolverines. Doughty hit an RBI single that plated
Berlyn Carreon. Moeller followed with her home run to left, scoring Doughty and
Skylar Cook. All four runs came with two outs for UVU.
The Aggies scored twice in the third to make it a 5-4 game, but the Wolverines answered with the second four-run frame in the fourth. Again, all four runs came after there were two outs in the inning and again Moeller was a part of the run scoring as she singled home Carreon to give UVU a 6-4 lead.
Steverson drove in Cook with an RBI single down the line in left and
Linnah Rebolledo capped the inning with a two-run double to right-center that brought home Moeller and Steverson.
NM State got a three-run home run from Chloe Rivas in the fifth and brought the potential winning run to the plate in the seventh, but
Devyn Cretz stranded both runners to end it.
Cook and Steverson joined Moeller with multi-hit games, each collecting two.
In the rubber match, the Wolverines and Aggies were locked in a pitcher's duel until a four-run sixth inning extended NM State's lead from 2-0 to 6-0.
Basia Query homered in the top of the seventh, but it was one of just four hits allowed by Samaria Diaz, who backed up a strong performance on Friday with 11 strikeouts on Saturday.
Carreon had two of the four hits for UVU while Nikki Butler and Mya Felder had three hit games with Felder hitting a pair of solo home runs in the contest.
The Wolverines will return to Utah this coming week with a road contest at in-state rival Weber State on Tuesday at 4 p.m. MT. Utah Valley hosts Seattle U in WAC play starting Friday at 2 p.m. in Orem before Saturday doubleheader at 1 p.m. MT.
