OREM, Utah – Utah Valley baseball dropped a doubleheader to the University of Portland on Friday afternoon at UCCU Ballpark. Portland (5-3) earned the series win over UVU (3-7) despite
Daniel Dickinson going six-for-10 with a pair of homers.
Isaac Lovings added two home runs in the first game of the day.
"The team competed today. We need to find a way to score a few more runs offensively and prevent a few more runs on the other side of the ball," said UVU head coach
Eddie Smith.
Utah Valley worked out of an 8-0 deficit with a pair of runs after Dickinson led off with a single and advanced to second on his fourth stolen base of the year. He moved to third base on a single by
Burke Camper, and UVU broke through on a Sac fly from
Garrett Broussard.
Jayden Smith added a single to cut into the Pilot lead and make it 8-2.
Braden Boisvert had the best outing of his UVU career after tossing 7.0 innings on four strikeouts, including a three up and three down second inning to help get the UVU bats up in the home half. They got a run back in the second on a solo homer from Lovings that cleared the right-field fence to make it 8-3.
Dickinson hit his fourth homer of the season with a solo blast in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 8-4. Lovings hit a solo home run for his second multi-homer game of the season.
Utah Valley mounted a two-out rally in the ninth inning, starting with a single from
Cole Jordan before he scored an RBI double from Lovings. Dickinson added an RBI single, and Halvorson had a two-run double to make it 16-8.
Dickinson and Lovings each finished with three hits and three runs scored in the first game of the doubleheader. Camper, Halvorson, and
Jayden Smith all finished with two hits.
GAME TWO
The Wolverines jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a solo homer from Dickinson on the first pitch he saw in the home half of the first inning. UVU starter
Ethan Fowlks retired the first seven hitters heading into the top of the third, but the Pilots recorded a pair of singles before a strikeout ended the inning. The strikeouts continued at the top of the fourth as Fowlks retired the side, all on punchouts.
Utah Valley loaded the bases after singles from
Matthew Schwarz and Broussard and a walk to Lovings. Smith gave UVU a 2-0 lead on a fielder choice that scored a run before adding a stolen base to put two runners in scoring position, a flyout ending the second bases-loaded threat of the inning.
Portland got the bats going in the fifth inning, scoring four runs to force Fowlks out of the game and take a 4-2 lead; they went up 5-2 after an RBI double from Ben Patacsil, who homered earlier in the game.
Trailing 6-2 heading to the bottom of the eighth, the Wolverines got the game into striking distance after Schwartz singled and moved to second on a throwing error. He scored on an RBI double from Smith, who moved to third on a fielding error by the Pilots' centerfielder.
In the bottom of the ninth, Dickinson started the potential comeback with a ground-rule double to left center field before Camper hit a two-run homer to left field to make it 7-5 Portland. After a pitching change, Schwarz reached base for the fourth time in the contest with a walk but was retired on a fielder's choice to end the game.
Fowlks finished with 4.1 innings, allowing six hits, and added seven strikeouts, but took the loss.
Gray Bailey went 2.2 innings with four strikeouts, and
Aaron Rice tossed two innings of one-hit ball.
Schwarz finished the game 2-for-3 with two walks. Dickinson and Smith each added a multi-hit game for the Wolverines.
Utah Valley and Portland finish their three-game series tomorrow at 11:05 a.m. MT first pitch. UVU is scheduled to host Gonzaga on Mar. 4 at 2:05 p.m. MT before hitting the road for their WAC opening series at Sacramento State.
