SANTA CLARA, Utah — Utah Valley saw Southern Utah rally late to steal the series finale in a high-scoring, 15-14 contest on a windy day at Archie H. Gubler Park. The contest was also game two of a doubleheader, with the Thunderbirds holding off the Wolverines in the first contest, 11-9, and giving SUU the series win.
In the finale, Utah Valley (4-4) got a trio of three-run home runs and led 14-6 in the fifth inning and were an out away from ending the game early. Southern Utah got three bloopers to scratch a run out and stay alive, then scored three in the sixth before the winning with five runs in the seventh.
The teams combined to hit six home runs, four of which came from UVU.
Siena Sandoval hit a three-run home run in the first to get the Wolverines on the board quickly and
Basia Query followed with a solo home run an inning later.
The Wolverines scored three more times in the third — on an RBI double from
Emery Nielson and a two-run single from
Madison Carr — to take a 7-0 lead. The T-Birds were able to plate five runs in the bottom of the inning with three coming on a home run from Josey White, who had five RBIs in the game.
In the fourth, with the Wolverines in front 7-5,
Peyton Prigge hit UVU's second three-run blast of the day to make it a 10-5 game. SUU got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning, but
Rien Milliken's three-run shot came during a four-run fifth to give Utah Valley a 14-6 lead.
In the seventh, Southern Utah had seven straight hitters reach base without recording an out, and won the game on a two-run single by Kalena Shepherd, who also had five RBIs in the contest.
SUU finished with 15 hits while UVU had 10, with
Kyla Hardy going 4-for-5 at the plate for the Wolverines.
In game one of the twin bill, Southern Utah had two big run-scoring frames, with four in the second and six in the third to take a 10-4 lead. The Wolverines chipped away with three in the fifth and two in the sixth but came up short.
Like in the series finale, Query hit a solo home run for the Wolverines while Hardy had a two-run home run in the second that gave UVU a 3-0 lead. Query also had a sacrifice fly and an RBI single in the game to drive in three runs. Hardy and Nielson both drove in two runs for UVU.
Utah Valley will head to Las Vegas next weekend for the Boyd Gaming Classic at UNLV. The Wolverines will face Idaho State and UNLV twice, with one game against WAC foe Seattle U.
