PORTLAND, Ore. – Connor Hall and Mick Madsen both belted out early home runs to give Utah Valley an early 4-1 lead, but Portland responded in the middle and late innings to record a 6-4 come-from-behind midweek victory on Wednesday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field in Portland.
 
Hall belted out a three-run shot for UVU (16-32) in the second and Madsen followed with a solo homer in the third, but the West Coast Conference Pilots (27-18) responded with two runs in the fourth and three in the seventh to record the victory in the lone season meeting between the two clubs.
 
"We competed very hard and did some nice things on both sides of the ball," head UVU coach Eddie Smith said. "We just need to be able to make one more break and we can find ourselves winning a game like that."
 
Trailing 1-0 in the second, UVU got things going as Garrett Broussard singled and Brandon Luna walked to put two on with only one away. Hall then stepped to the plate and belted out a three-run homer to left to give the Wolverines a 3-1 lead. 
 
With one out and nobody aboard in the third, Madsen sent a 1-1 pitch over the leftfield wall for a solo shot to extend UVU's lead to 4-1. 
 
The Pilots got two runs back on a two-run homer from Jake Holcroft in the fourth to pull within a run at 4-3. 
 
Each squad then went to the bullpen and both staffs did a nice job of limiting the damage from there, as the game remained 4-3 until the seventh when the Pilots managed to score three times to take a 6-4 advantage. Evan Scavotto started the scoring in the frame with a big two-run single to give Portland the lead and Trace Tammaro followed with a sac fly to make it 6-4 Pilots. 
 
UVU then looked to have a strong chance to even things up in the eighth, as Trey Cutchen worked a one-out walk and Madsen doubled to right to put the tying runners in scoring position. Following a strikeout, UVU then loaded the bases with two away thanks to a walk from Broussard. Luna was then hit by a pitch on an 0-2 count, which would've forced in a run and made it a one-run game at 6-5, but a questionable call by the home plate umpire called Luna out on strikes for leaning into the pitch to end the inning and the threat.
 
After UVU retired the Pilots in order in the last of the eighth, UP closer Peter Allegra put the game away by retiring the Wolverines in order in the ninth. 
 
Caleb Franzen picked up the win in relief for Portland after tossing 2.1 scoreless frames to improve to 2-5 while Allegro pitched the final inning and two thirds to record his 10th save. Carson Brown was tagged with the loss for UVU to drop to 1-2. Despite the setback, UVU had strong relief outings from Luke McCollough (1.2 scoreless innings), Blake Zeleny (1.0 scoreless inning), and Nick Sims (1.0 scoreless inning).
 
Madsen collected two of UVU's four hits in the game by going 2-for-4 with a homer and a double, while Hall went 1-for-3 with a three-run home run. Tammaro led Portland with a 2-for-3 performance with two runs batted in. 
 
The contest marked UVU's fifth game in the past six days and fifth of a current nine-game road trip. 
 
The Wolverines will continue the trip by heading south on I-5 to return to conference play with a big three-game series at WAC foe Sacramento State. The series will run Friday to Sunday at John Smith Field in Sacramento. UVU will then cap the nine-game trip with a Monday tilt at Pacific on Monday, May 16.