EDINBURG, Texas – Andrew Hacker blasted out his first collegiate home run with a two-run shot in the 11th inning in Saturday's nightcap to help propel Utah Valley to a doubleheader split on Saturday afternoon over UT Rio Grande Valley at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg, Texas. After dropping the first game of the day, 5-4, UVU responded with the late game heroics to claim game two by a score of 6-5. 
 
With the nightcap all tied up at 4-4 in the 11th, Hacker lined a ball over the leftfield wall for what proved to be the winning home run. Devin Smith then came on to pitch the last of the 11th and managed to record the save after inducing a game-ending 6-4-3 double play to leave the tying run stranded on second base.
 
UVU improves to 6-22 overall with the split on the day and 4-11 in WAC play, while UTRGV falls to 15-17 overall and 7-8 in conference play. The Wolverines will look to split the four-game series against the defending WAC champion Vaqueros on Sunday morning. 
 
GAME TWO
Deadlocked in a scoreless pitcher's duel, the Wolverines managed to strike first with a run in the top of the fourth to take a 1-0 lead. After singles from Kade Poulsen and Mick Madsen put runners on the corners with one away, Brandon Luna drove a ball to deep right which resulted in a sacrifice fly to bring in Poulsen and give UVU the one-run advantage. 
 
The Vaqueros then threatened in the last of the fourth by getting a pair of hits, but UVU starter Bobby Voortmeyer responded by drawing an inning-ending flyout off the bat of Angel De La Cruz to escape the jam unscathed. 
 
UT Rio Grande Valley then got on the board in the fifth with a pair of runs to take their first lead of the game at 2-1. With two on and one away, Christian Sepulveda tied the game with an RBI single through the right side to bring in Hirsch. Two batters later, Conrado Diaz then drove home Jacob Sanchez with a sac fly to right to give the Vaqueros the lead. 
 
In the eighth, UVU managed to take advantage of a pair of UTRGV errors to score two unearned runs and take a 3-2 lead. Garrett Broussard singled to start the frame and Mitch Moralez followed with an infield single but UTRGV reliever Kevin Palm threw the ball away on the play to allow Broussard to come around to score to tie the game at 2-2. With Moralez leading from third following a double play, Trey Newman then put a ball into play to short and UTRGV shortstop Sepulveda couldn't make the play as Moralez scored the go-ahead run to give the Wolverines the late one-run advantage. 
 
After allowing a lead-off hit from Diaz in the bottom of the eighth, UVU reliever Jaxson Otis bounced back nicely by retiring the next three hitters he faced to send it to the ninth with Utah Valley holding to the 3-2 lead. 
 
With Blake Zeleny on the mound for the Wolverines in the ninth, UTRGV got the lead-off man aboard as Elijah Alexander was hit by the pitch. A sac bunt then moved Alexander to second with one away and RJ Ochoa followed by reaching on a walk to runners on first and second. With UVU senior closer Spenser Triplett now on for his second appearance of the day, Sepulveda lined a ball to left that brought in the tying run in Alexander to deadlock the score at 3-3. With the winning run now standing on second and just one away, Triplett responded for the Wolverines by striking out Coleman Grubbs and drawing an inning-ending groundout off the bat of Diaz to strand the runners and send the game to the 10th.
 
With the international tiebreaker in effect and Broussard placed on second to start the top of the 10th, Moralez grounded out on the right side of the infield to move Broussard to third with just one away. Alexander Marco then walked to put runners on the corners and Poulsen followed with a clutch RBI single to right to drive in the go-ahead run in Broussard to give UVU a 4-3 advantage. Newman then kept things going with a single to left to load the bases with just one out in the frame. UTRGV's Tyler Kisner then answered back with consecutive strikeouts to leave the bases full and help limit the damage. 
 
With UTRGV's Diaz leading from second to start the last of the 10th, De La Cruz hit a comebacker back to Triplett and the Wolverine senior caught Diaz in no-man's land off the bag at second in which Triplett fired the ball to second base for the first out of the frame. With Freddy Rojas Jr. on first and two away, De La Cruz was hit by the pitch to put runners on first and second. Alexander then drove home the tying run with an RBI single up the middle to tie the game at 4-4. With the winning run on third, Triplett then sent the game to the 11th by drawing an inning-ending fly out. 
 
With a runner once again aboard for UVU to start the 11th, Andrew Hacker blasted out his first collegiate home run with a two-run shot down the leftfield line to give the Wolverines a 6-4 lead. 
 
With Smith now on the mound for Utah Valley in the last of the 11th, the Vaqueros got a run back on an RBI single from Grubbs to make it a one-run game at 6-5. With the tying run leading from second base and the winning run on first with just one away, Smith then induced the big game-ending double play to seal the victory for the Wolverines. 
 
Triplett was credited with the win after going 1.2 innings and allowing just one run on two hits while striking out one. Smith then picked up his second save of the season after allowing one unearned run on one hit in the 11th. UTRGV's Ricky Gerik Jr. was tagged with the loss to fall to 0-2. 
 
Poulsen led UVU offensively by going 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, while Hacker went 2-for-4 with the game-winning home run. Moralez also had a two-hit game for the Wolverines. Sepulveda paced UTRGV by going 3-for-5 with two RBIs. 
 
GAME ONE
After having a sluggish offensive outing on Friday, the Wolverines didn't waste any time getting things going in the first game of Saturday's twin bill as UVU scored twice in the top of the first to jump out to a 2-0 lead. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Poulsen singled in Broussard for the first run of the day. Drew Sims then followed with a deep sacrifice fly to left to bring home Moralez and give UVU the early two-run advantage.
 
The Vaqueros then responded in the second with two runs of their own to tie the contest and added two more in the third to take a 4-2 lead. Jacob Hirsch started the scoring with a second-inning sac fly and RJ Ochoa promptly followed with a solo homer to tie the game at 2-2. Then in the third, Rojas Jr. doubled in the go-ahead run and Alexander followed with a sac fly to give UTRGV a 4-2 lead. 
 
Utah Valley then struck back with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 4-4. Alexander Marco and Poulsen started the rally with back-to-back singles and Sims followed by reaching on a fielder's choice to put two on with two away. Madsen then singled to load the bases and Luna delivered the big hit in the inning with a two-run single to right center to drive in Poulsen and Sims and tie the ballgame. 
 
Following a walk and a sacrifice bunt in the last of the sixth, the Vaqueros then regained the lead at 5-4 thanks to an RBI double down the rightfield line from Hirsch to bring in Alexander for what proved to be the winning run for UTRGV.
 
With two outs in the seventh, UVU got a baserunner aboard when Madsen reached on an error but UTRGV reliever Chase Bridges responded by striking out Luna to strand pinch runner Kyle Coburn on the basepaths and end the seven-inning ballgame.
 
Despite dropping the tightly contested contest, UVU outhit UTRGV 11-5 in game one of Saturday's twin bill.
 
Broussard led UVU offensively by going 3-for-4 with a run scored, while Marco and Poulsen each went 2-for-4 and Luna finished 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs batted in. Hirsch paced UTRGV by going 1-for-2 with two RBIs, while Alexander went 1-for-1 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI.
 
Bridges (3-1) was credited with the win for UT Rio Grande Valley after tossing 2.1 innings of scoreless relief. UVU reliever Carson Brown was tagged with his first loss of the season (0-1) after allowing one run in 1.2 innings of relief work. 
 
ON DECK FOR UVU
The Wolverines and Vaqueros will close the four-game weekend set on Sunday with the series finale at 11 a.m. MT/12 p.m. CT at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. Following the game, UVU will return home to host WAC newcomer Tarleton for the first time at UCCU Ballpark for four games next weekend.