OREM, Utah – Utah Valley University baseball won the opening game of the series 11-1 over Stephen F. Austin. Calyn Halvorson finished 3-for-3 as UVU (5-12, 2-2) hit four home runs in the game against the SFA (3-17, 0-4) pitching staff.
 
The Wolverines struck early and often. Daniel Dickinson walked and then stole second base. He scored on an RBI double by Halvorson to make it 1-0. One batter later, Matthew Schwarz singled to bring home Halvorson, making it 2-0, Utah Valley.
 
Braden Boisvert walked the first hitter he faced, but UVU went around the horn for a 5-4-3 double play to quickly get two outs in the inning and ended the inning on a ground out.
 
The Wolverines' bats opened the game up in the second, starting with an inside-the-park homer by Nate Bach. He hit a high fly ball to left field, and SFA's Brock Knoerr ran into shallow left field and lost it in the overcast sky. Bach was able to sprint around the bases for UVU's second inside-the-park homer in two seasons. Luke Iverson had the first Inside-the-park homer since 2014 last year at Utah Tech.
 
Utah Valley added two more homers in the inning starting with a Cole Jordan screamer that left the yard for his second homer of the season after a walk to Jayden Smith. The Wolverines kept the pressure on the Lumberjacks when Burke Camper lined a home run to left field, giving them a 6-0 lead. They went up 7-0 on SFA after Halvorson singled and moved to third on an Iverson single. They would successfully pull off a double steal allowing Halvorson to score to make it 7-0.
 
Braden Boisvert had his best outing since coming to UVU and finished with six strong innings, allowing only three hits, one walk, and struck out a career-high nine Jacks. His only mistake came in the third when he allowed a solo homer to Cole Hill, but the righty quickly responded with three strikeouts to end the third inning.  He earned his first win in the UVU pinstripes.
 
The Wolverines added to their 7-1 lead in the fourth inning after Halvorson hit a ball down the left field line, and he hurried into second for a double. UVU took an 8-1 lead on the next pitch, as Iverson singled to center, allowing the runner to score from second.
 
The Lumberjacks had a couple of hits over the final three innings but were held scoreless. UVU, in the seventh, put the game away with a three-run inning that started with a single by Matthew Schwarz before Garrett Broussard homered for the first time this year to go up 10-1. The game ended by the ten-run rule after Bach reached first after being hit by a pitch and scored on a triple by Jayden Smith to make it 11-1.
 
Chase Hennessey saw one inning of action and added a strikeout. All starting nine Wolverines reached base in the victory. Smith finished 2-for-3 and was joined by Halvorson, Iverson, and Schwarz with multi-hit games.
 
The Wolverines and Lumberjacks will play tomorrow at 2:05 p.m. MT at UCCU Ballpark for the second game of the series; the series finale is scheduled for Sunday, Mar. 17 at 12:05 p.m. MT.