SALT LAKE CITY – Following a two-hour and 13-minute rain and lightning delay, Utah Valley University dropped a hard fought 7-6 late-night in-state battle to the University of Utah on Tuesday night at Smith's Ballpark in Salt Lake City.
 
Down a run in the ninth, Mitch Moralez smoked a two-out double to left to represent the tying run in scoring position for UVU (8-17). Mick Madsen then followed with a fly ball to right, but Utah's Kai Roberts made a game-saving diving catch to help preserve the win for the Utes (15-9-1). 
 
"We did some really nice things, but we have a lot of room for improvement. We're going to continue to do those things and improve in the areas that we need to show improvement in," head UVU coach Eddie Smith said. "I think we're close, but we just need to keep getting after it and find a way to end up on top in games like this."
 
The Utes got off to a quick start by scoring a trio of runs in the first to take an early 3-0 lead. Landon Frei and Jayden Kiernan both had RBI doubles in the frame for the Utes.
 
The Wolverines quickly responded with a pair of runs in the second to pull within a run at 3-2. Trey Cutchen and Cole Jordan started things off with back-to-back doubles to make it 3-1 and Paul Vossen followed with an RBI triple to right to make it a one-run game. 
 
UVU tied things up in the third via a leadoff solo homer from Brody Ponti to deadlock the score at 3-all. 
 
Utah then got a run back in the bottom of the third to regain a brief 4-3 advantage, but Utah Valley answered with a three-run fourth to take a 6-4 lead. With Kayler Yates and Vossen aboard, Spencer Olsen plated Yates with an RBI single through the left side. Following a sac bunt from Drew Sims, Brandon Luna then hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field to bring in Vossen. Moralez capped the scoring in the frame with an RBI double to left.
 
The Utes tied things up at 6-6 with two runs in the last of the fourth. Carter Booth had the big hit in the frame with an RBI triple to right.
 
Blake Zeleny then came on from the pen for UVU and pitched a pair of scoreless frames as the game remained 6-6 into the seventh. He struck out three of the six batters he faced and faced the minimum over the two innings. The Wolverines then threatened offensively in the seventh by getting two runners on base, but Utah reliever Zac McCleve entered in and recorded an inning-ending strikeout to end the threat. 
 
The Wolverines were close to escaping a jam in the last of the seventh, but Utah's Jayden Kiernan delivered what proved to be the winning run with a two-out RBI single to right to give the Utes a late 7-6 advantage. With two runners on, Vossen then saved a couple of runs by tracking down a deep flyball off the bat of Alex Baeza to end the inning.
 
UVU got the leadoff man aboard in the eighth thanks to a sharp single from Yates, but he was stranded on the basepaths following a strikeout and a double play ball. The Utes then loaded the bases in the last of the eighth and looked for some insurance, but Bobby Voortmeyer countered with a big inning-ending strikeout for the Wolverines to leave the bases full and keep it a one-run game.
 
Moralez led UVU by going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and an RBI, while Cutchen went 2-for-3 and Vossen 2-for-4. Cutchen, Jordan, Vossen and Ponti also had extra-base hits in the game for the Wolverines. Kiernan paced Utah by going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk. 
 
UVU used four pitchers on the night and Zeleny was tagged with the loss after giving up a run in the seventh to fall to 1-2 on the year. Voortmeyer did a nice job in the late innings for UVU by pitching a pair of scoreless frames. Utah's McCleve picked up the win to improve to 1-1. 
 
The game featured a two-plus hour weather delay prior to first pitch and didn't get underway until nearly 8:20 p.m. and lasted until 11:30 p.m.
 
The contest marked the first of three season meetings between the in-state foes, at Utah will return the favor and come to UCCU Ballpark on both Tuesday, April 5 and Wednesday, April 27.
 
The Wolverines will now return to conference play for a three-game WAC series against Sacramento State this weekend at UCCU Ballpark. The series will run Friday to Sunday, April 1-3.