GREELEY, Colo. – Sam Leach drove in two runs and pitched a complete-game two-hit shutout en route to leading Northern Colorado to a 10-0 victory over Utah Valley in the series opener on Friday afternoon at Jackson Field.
 
Leach, who extended his hitting streak to 17 games in the contest, took a no-hitter into the seventh but UVU's Alexander Marco managed to break up the no-hit bid with a seventh-inning double. Kade Poulsen then followed with a single to put runners on the corners for the Wolverines in the seventh, but Leach responded with an inning-ending double play to preserve the shutout. 
 
Leach struck out four and walked just one on his way to tossing the eight-inning complete-game shutout for the Bears. He only allowed four baserunners to reach in the ballgame. 
 
UNC improves to 5-15 overall and 1-8 in WAC play with the victory while UVU falls to 2-15 and 0-5 in conference play. The series will continue with a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon beginning at 12 p.m. MT in Greeley. The finale will then follow on Sunday at noon. 
 
With the game deadlocked in a pitcher's duel early and scoreless in the third, the WAC's current home run leader Jake Gitter managed to give the Bears a 1-0 lead with a solo homer to right for his seventh round-tripper of the season. UNC later made it 2-0 in the frame when Leach came around to score on an RBI double from Josh Glenn.
 
The Bears later extended their lead to 6-0 after adding four more runs in the fifth. Following a UVU defensive miscue, UNC later loaded the bases. Leach, Glenn, Matt Burkart and Blake Tweedt all picked up RBIs during the four-run fifth for Northern Colorado.
 
Ben McKay added a two-run homer for UNC in the sixth and the Bears tacked on an unearned run in the seventh to make it 9-0. Northern Colorado then capped the game via the run-rule in the eighth with Leach's second RBI hit of the contest. 
 
UVU had its best chance to score in the seventh when it got back-to-back one-out hits from Marco and Poulsen, but Leach managed to escape the threat by getting a double play ball off the bat of Drew Sims.
 
Leach improved to 2-3 on the year after going the distance for UNC, while UVU starter Jesse Schmit (1-3) was tagged with the loss after surrendering three earned runs (six total) over 4.1 innings of work. 
 
Marco led UVU offensively by going 1-for-3 with a double, while Poulsen also went 1-for-3. Leach went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in to lead the way for UNC. McKay, Glenn and Burkart all also added multiple-hit outings on the day for the Bears.