OREM, Utah – Utah Valley baseball will head to Sam Houston this week for a three-game weekend series. The series starts on Friday, Apr. 21, with a 5:35 p.m. MT start. The series continues with a 2:05 p.m. MT start on Saturday, Apr. 22, and will conclude with an 11:00 a.m. start on Sunday, Apr. 23.
The game on Friday will air on ESPN+, with the final two games on the series shifting to WAC International. Live stats will be available on UVUstats.com.
"It's another exciting WAC weekend against a solid Sam Houston team. It's great to be on the road and have this opportunity to play in a great atmosphere," said UVU head coach
Eddie Smith.
The Wolverines are coming off a busy week that saw them in six games over eight days. UVU finished the week with a 4-2 record, with three come-from-behind victories, including two over in-state opponents. Utah Valley split two games with Utah before winning a WAC series over the weekend against UT Rio Grande Valley. They concluded the stretch with an 8-6 victory in the Old Hammer Rivalry over Utah Tech.
Daniel Dickinson went 10-for-27 during the games to hit .370. The Wolverines scored 41 runs during the six games and hit nine home runs.
Cole Jordan hit three of the nine home runs, with
Patrick Mills and
Garrett Broussard each going deep twice. Junior pitcher
Mitch Mueller tossed seven innings allowing three hits and had 11 strikeouts in three appearances during the stretch.
ABOUT SAM HOUSTON
The Bearkats dropped a non-conference game 7-6 to Baylor on Apr. 18 and enter the weekend in first place in the WAC. They hold a 14-4 record in conference and 22-16 overall on the year. They are coming off a series victory in St. George against Utah Tech. After losing the first game against the Trailblazers, Sam Houston outscored the opposition 24-9 in the final two games of the series. Tyler Davis is the leading hitter at .453, and Joe Redfield is at .439. As a team, they hit .310 on the season. They hold a team ERA of 5.48 on the hill on the season. Coltin Atkinson is the Friday starter and will get the ball in game one. He is 5-2 on the year, and Saturday starter Steven Beard is 4-2.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Fri- UVU:
Logan Gerling (5-2, 4.21 ERA) vs. SAM: Coltin Atkinson (5-2, 3.83 ERA)
Sat- UVU:
Jayse Burkett (2-3, 4.26 ERA) vs. SAM: Steven Beard (4-2, 4.59 ERA)
Sun- UVU: TBD vs. SAM: Gavi Coldiron (1-2, 8.01 ERA)
FIRST ALL-TIME
The game on Friday will mark the first all-time meeting between Utah Valley and Sam Houston. The Bearkats will leave the WAC after this season and compete next year in C-USA. It will mark the second opponent UVU will meet for the first time this year as they hosted Lehigh in Mid-March. The Wolverines will see two other first-time opponents this year when they host Stephen F. Austin (May 3-5) and travel to UT Arlington (May. 18-20).
DANIEL IS ON A STREAK
UVU Freshman
Daniel Dickinson has reached base in 24 straight contests. He is hitting .347 this year with four home runs, including an eighth-inning homer against Utah Tech on Monday.
GOOD WITH THE GLOVES
Utah Valley is one of the top fielding teams in the West Region. The Wolverines are second in the WAC this year with a .978 fielding percentage and are only behind Washington and Oregon State of the Pac-12. UVU enters the weekend at No. 34 nationally in fielding percentage.
GERLING TO MAKE START NUMBER 10
Logan Gerling is currently leading the conference in games started. He is scheduled to make his tenth start of the season this weekend, which will put him 18
th in the country. In his ten starts, he leads the conference in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 6.43.
DANDY DOUBLES
Utah Valley enters this weekend at No. 41 in doubles in the country and third in the WAC. They are averaging 2.14 doubles a game.
Patrick Mills leads the team with 13 on the season.
Matthew Schwarz and Mills each average 0.37 doubles per game.
ON DECK
Utah Valley will host Washington State from the Pac-12 on Wednesday, Apr. 26, before heading south to St. George for a three-game WAC series against Utah Tech starting on Apr. 28.
