Box Score OREM, Utah – Utah Valley picked up an 11-9 victory over Northwest Nazarene on Monday afternoon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem. UVU (11-7) was led by
Calyn Halvorson, who was 3-for-5 and
Luke Iverson had two triples as the UVU offense explodes for 11 runs in the middle innings to defeat NNU (11-15).
"It was a good win that capped off a solid pre-conference play. We are excited to begin WAC play this weekend. On to Seattle!" said UVU head coach
Eddie Smith.
Northwest Nazarene took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. The Wolverines chipped into the lead with one run in the fourth after loading the bases with a walk to
Burke Camper, single by Halvorson, and
Trey Cutchen was hit by a pitch.
Garrett Broussard hit a sac fly to make it 2-1 NNU.
The Nighthawks scored three in the top of the fifth, but Utah Valley quickly answered in the bottom half when they scored seven runs, all coming with two outs in the inning.
Daniel Dickinson reached on a walk before
Patrick Mills hit a homer off the scoreboard for his fifth of the year to bring the score make it 5-4 NNU.
Utah Valley took advantage of a bases-loaded situation for the second time in the fifth as
Matthew Schwarz tripled to left center to clear the bases and put the Wolverines up 7-5. Later in the inning, Schwarz scored after a throwing error by the catcher trying to throw out Jordan to make it 8-5.
UVU added three more runs in the sixth and batted around for the second time in the ball game as Iverson had one of his two triples to bring home two runs, and Halvorson added an RBI single to put the Wolverines in front 11-5.
In the eighth inning, Northwest Nazarene brought in three runs to cut the lead down to 11-8, and loaded the bases in the ninth, bringing the leading run to the plate, but UVU held off the late rally.
Chase Hennessey (2-0) picked up the win by going 2.1 innings for the Wolverines.
Drew Woody pitched two shutout innings with four strikeouts.
Schwarz had three RBIs as he extended his reached-base streak to ten games.
Utah Valley will open WAC play with a three-game weekend series in Bellevue against Seattle U. They will play on Mar. 17 at 5:00 p.m. MT, the series continues on Mar. 18 with a 3:00 p.m. MT start, and will wrap up on Mar. 19 with a 1:00 p.m. MT first pitch. The games are available on WAC International.
