MESA, Ariz. – Utah Valley University junior Paxton Schultz struck out nine and allowed just one run over seven impressive innings of work, but the top-seeded New Mexico State Aggies managed to score six eighth-inning runs en route to pulling out a 7-1 contest on day two at the WAC Baseball Tournament at Hohokam Stadium.
 
Schultz was brilliant on the mound for the Wolverines by limiting the potent Aggie offense to just four hits and keeping NM State off of the scoreboard into the seventh inning. But a late offensive flurry by New Mexico State proved to be the difference in the ballgame.  
 
The defending WAC Tournament champion and top-seeded Aggies (38-15) will now advance into a semifinal contest against No. 4 Grand Canyon on Friday night, while No. 6 UVU (15-40) will drop to an elimination game against either No. 2 UT Rio Grande Valley or No. 3 Sacramento State on Friday afternoon. 
 
"What a great job by Paxton of going out and dominating such a great hitting team. I thought that he did a fantastic job of making it real difficult on them all night long," head UVU coach Eric Madsen said. "He made the one mistake, but man he really pitched well."   
 
Both starters had strong outings in the ballgame, as they kept the game scoreless into the seventh inning. UVU's Schultz did a stellar job for the Wolverines by allowing just three hits while striking out eight during the stretch – including striking out the side in the fifth – while NM State's Brock Whittlesey gave up just five hits while fanning three. Utah Valley's defense also got a diving catch from Alexander Marco on the warning track in the second along with an inning-ending double play from Kody Hall over to Kade Poulsen to end the fourth. 
 
Schulz finished with a game-high nine strikeouts on the night to tie a single-season UVU school record with 99 strikeouts on the year. He now shares the record with former Wolverine great and All-WAC performer Danny Beddes, as Beddes previously struck out 99 during Utah Valley's WAC Tournament championship season of 2016. 
 
In the top of the sixth the Wolverines got a one-out infield hit from Ryan Eastburn and Mick Madsen later looked to drive him home by blasting a ball to right-center, but NMSU's Logan Ehnes made a great play to run the ball down right before banging into the wall to keep the Wolverines off the board. 
 
The Aggies then got a baserunner aboard in the last of the seventh via a one-out infield single from Ehnes. Ehnes then came in to score the first run of the game moments later on a double just over Eastburn's head that one-hopped the wall in left off the bat of Tristan Peterson to give the Aggies a 1-0 advantage. With Peterson leading from second, Schultz then responded in the inning by recording his ninth strikeout of the night followed by an inning-ending lineout to second to limit the damage to just one run in the frame. 
 
In the eighth, Utah Valley then responded with back-to-back singles to center from seniors Michael Beltran and Eastburn to put runners on the corners and chase Whittlesey from the ballgame. NM State's Keaton Graf then came on from the bullpen and managed to retire the next two UVU hitters he faced, however, to leave the pair of Wolverine runners stranded on the base paths and keep it a 1-0 lead for the Aggies. 
 
NM State then managed push across six insurance runs off of UVU's bullpen in the last of the eighth to put the game away. The WAC Player of the Year Joey Ortiz started the scoring with an RBI single to center and Eric Mingus capped the big-inning with a two-run triple to right to give the Aggies the seven-run advantage.
 
Utah Valley then looked to fight back in the ninth by loading the bases with just one away, but the Wolverines managed to drive home just one on an RBI groundout off the bat of senior Trevor Howell to make it 7-1. 
 
Whittlesey earns the win for the Aggies to improve to 8-2 on the year, while Schultz was the tough-luck loser in the ballgame. 
 
Eastburn and Drew Sims led UVU at the plate by each recording two hits in the contest, while Howell drove in the team's lone run. Peterson led NM State by going 2-for-3 with two runs batted in. 
 
The sixth-seeded Wolverines opened the 2019 WAC Tournament with a 4-2 opening-round victory over No. 3 Sacramento State on Wednesday. 
 
With the setback, UVU will now head to an elimination game to face the winner of Friday's opener between UTRGV and Sac State on Friday at 4 p.m. MDT (in Utah)/3 p.m. MST (in Ariz.). The winner of that game will move on to Saturday while the loser will head home. 
 
"Realistically we still have a chance in this tournament," Madsen added. "We left too many guys on base in this one, but we need to come out and look to rebound on Friday."