OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University baseball team will head to Mesa, Arizona, this week to compete in the 2019 WAC Baseball Tournament at Hohokam Stadium (May 22-26). The Wolverines will enter the double-elimination tournament as the No. 6 seed and will open play on Wednesday evening against the third-seeded Sacramento State Hornets. 
 
UVU's opening contest will mark the second game of the day and will begin at 7 p.m. MDT (in Utah)/6 p.m. MST (in Ariz.) on Wednesday. With a win, the Wolverines will then advance on to face the top-seeded New Mexico State Aggies on Thursday at 7 p.m. MDT/6 p.m. MST while with a loss UVU will drop to an elimination game against either No. 4 Grand Canyon or No. 5 CSU Bakersfield on Thursday at noon MDT/11 a.m. MST. 
 
Each contest of the tournament will air live on ESPN+ (subscription required) as well as the WAC Digital Network for international viewers. Live audio will also be available for all of UVU's games by visiting GoUVU.com while live stats can be followed at WACStats.com. 
 
Utah Valley will enter the week as the tournament's sixth seed after going 14-39 during the regular season and placing seventh in the conference standings with a 9-18 WAC clip. UVU capped its season by getting swept at No. 2 UT Rio Grande Valley this past weekend after the Vaqueros managed to earn walk-off victories in all three contests. 
 
The Wolverines first dropped a 2-1 pitcher's duel in the opener at UTRGV, as the Vaqueros managed to score the winning run on a walk-off wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth to take game one. Then with the Vaqueros and Wolverines all tied up at 5-5 enter the last of the ninth in game two, UTRGV again managed to earn a 6-5 win thanks to walk-off RBI single from Conrado Diaz. Then with UVU holding to a 2-0 lead late in the game in Saturday's finale, UT Rio Grande Valley rallied for eight runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth to earn a 12-2 run-rule walk-off win in the regular-season finale. 
 
Despite getting swept at UTRGV, all three starting pitchers performed well for the Wolverines at UTRGV. Both Jake Carr and Paxton Schultz didn't allow an earned run over five and six respective innings in the first two games, while fellow starter Walker Ramsey gave up just two runs on three hits over six-plus strong innings of work in the series finale. The trio of Wolverine starters also combined to strike out 12 hitters 19.0 innings of work, led by six from Schultz. 
 
Freshman Mick Madsen led the Wolverines at the plate in the final series at UTRGV by hitting .400 with a pair of doubles and two runs scored. Madsen finished his first season of WAC play leading the team in hitting in conference-only play with a .353 average and will enter the tournament with a .307 overall batting clip.
 
Ryan Eastburn and Michael Beltran lead UVU offensively on the year with respective .326 and .325 averages, while Alexander Marco leads the way in the power numbers with 13 doubles, six homers and 39 RBIs. Trevor Howell will also enter as one of the team's hottest hitters, as he's reached base safely in 27 consecutive ballgames. Thursday's scheduled starter Schultz fronts the rotation from the mound with a 4.29 ERA and 90 strikeouts over 92.1 innings, while Wednesday's starter Carr fronts the team in wins with four. 
 
VERSUS THE HORNETS
Just a week and a half ago, UVU won its final home series of the season over Sacramento State by taking two of three during Utah Valley's senior weekend. UVU took the contests by scores of 6-2, 14-4 (seven innings) and nearly swept the series as Schultz took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of the game that the Wolverines dropped, 5-4. Wednesday's game will mark the 45th all-time meeting between UVU and Sac State. The Hornets hold a 26-18 all-time advantage and a 1-3 clip in WAC Tournament play. 
 
UVU ALL-TIME AT WAC TOURNAMENT
After failing to qualify for the first time for the WAC Tournament a season ago, UVU will head back to Hohokam Stadium in Mesa this year for the fifth time in the past six seasons. After falling in the championship series to Sacramento State in 2014, Utah Valley then went on to win the WAC Tournament in 2016 with an unblemished 4-0 record to advance to an NCAA Regional for the first time in program history that year. UVU is 8-6 all-time in WAC Tournament play and 20-8 under coach Eric Madsen overall in conference tournament play (which includes the Great West Conference years). 
 
ABOUT SACRAMENTO STATE
Sac State posted a 33-22 record during the regular season and finished just a game back of the first to finish in a tie for fourth place and earn the No. 3 seed for the WAC Tournament with a 18-9 league record. After dropping two of three at UVU, the Hornets responded by taking two of three at home from GCU last week to tie with the Lopes at 18-9. Sac State, who has recorded eight consecutive 30-win seasons, won the WAC Tournament in both 2014 and 2017.
 
Matt Smith paces the Hornets on the year with a .319 batting average and 37 runs scored, while Dawsen Bacho is batting .270 with team-best tallies of 20 extra-base hits 45 RBIs. Right-hander Parker Brahms (4-3, 4.26 ERA) is scheduled to pitch Wednesday's opener against UVU.