ABILENE, Texas -  Abilene Christian defeated Utah Valley 8-6 on Friday evening at Crutcher Scott Field. ACU (16-11, 7-4) used an eight-run third inning that was too much for UVU (13-14, 5-3) to overcome. The Wolverines were led by a trio of hitters, such as Jayden Smith, Calyn Halvorson, and Isaac Lovings, who all had two hits in the contest.
 
"That was a battle between good WAC teams. We are going to need to score a few more runs and prevent a few more runs in these kinds of games to end up on top," said UVU head coach Eddie Smith.
 
The Wolverines looked to claw their way out of an 8-0 deficit in the top of the fourth inning when Cole Jordan walked and came around to score on an RBI double from Lovings, making it 8-1 in favor of the Wildcats. UVU was not done yet, as Matthew Schwarz singled to put runners on the corners before Smith drew a walk to load the bases.
 
Utah Valley added a run after Camper worked a full count and walked to score Lovings and make it 8-2. The bases were still loaded for Halvorson, who singled to bring home a pair and cut the deficit to 8-4. Mitch Mueller quickly worked to get the bats back up for UVU as he retired ACU in order in the bottom half of the fourth.
 
Abilene Christian had gotten the first two out of the fifth inning before Lovings hit a no-doubt shot that cleared the fence for his eighth home run of the year and the team's 53^rd. After UVU cut the lead to 8-5 ACU, Mueller returned to work and struck out the first hitter of the fifth before Benjamin Greer doubled but was thrown out on a great relay from Jordan to Schwarz over to Broussard, who applied the tag.
 
Utah Valley added a run in the sixth inning on a one-out single by Smith, who advanced for two bases on passed balls and scored on a groundout from Camper. The Wolverines looked to threaten in the seventh and eighth innings when base runners reached on ACU errors, but the Wildcats' pitching staff held UVU scoreless for the 8-6 win.
 
Mueller was brilliant for UVU, going 5.1 innings, allowing three hits, and struck out six on the night. He faced 22 hitters in the contest and was only two outs away from tying a career-high 6.0 innings. He did not factor into the decision.
 
Utah Valley and Abilene Christian will play the rubber on Mar. 30  at 11:05 a.m. MT. The game can be seen on ESPN+. The Wolverines will return to Utah for their next six contests, including a home and home with the Pac-12's Utah Utes and Utah Tech visiting UCCU Ballpark next week.