OREM, Utah – Utah Valley baseball hits the road this weekend to open Western Athletic Conference play at Sacramento State. UVU, while in Northern California, will also play games next week with UC Davis and Pacific.
The Wolverines' series with the Hornets starts on Friday, Mar. 8, with a 3:00 p.m. MT start before playing an evening contest on Mar. 9 at 7:30 p.m. MT before the series concludes on Mar. 9 at 1:00 p.m. MT. Utah Valley will play on Mar. 10 at 3:30 p.m. MT against Big West foe UC Davis and wraps up the road trip on Mar. 12 at 1:00 p.m. MT against Pacific in Stockton.
BROADCAST INFO
The series with Sacramento State will air on ESPN+, along with the game on Mar. 12 at Pacific. No broadcast plans have been announced for the game on Mar. 11 at UC Davis. All games will have live stats available.
LAST TIME OUT
The Wolverines were swept by the Portland Pilots in their home opening series last weekend.
Daniel Dickinson,
Burke Camper, and
Isaac Lovings all hit two homers on the weekend to help UVU's offensive attack. As a team, Utah Valley hit .301 in the series against the Pilots. On the bump,
Braden Boisvert pitched a UVU-high seven innings, allowing three runs and striking out four.
ABOUT THE HORNETS
Sacramento State is 5-7 this year. They are led by JP Smith, who leads the team in hitting (.311) and home runs (8). They are hitting .209 as a team this season and received national attention when Matt Mascianglo was hit by a pitch seven times in their season-opening doubleheader. Tyler Stewart and Evan Gibbons are leading the pitching staff to start the season and have started each weekend for the Hornets.
ABOUT THE AGGIES
UC Davis starts conference play this weekend and is 7-5. They won a series this year against Seattle U and BYU. Tyler Howard and Mark Wolbert lead the club's offensive attack, which is hitting .285. The pitching staff has a 5.57-team ERA entering play this weekend.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
Pacific is currently 2-10 and opens up WCC play this weekend against UC San Diego. Jack Metcho is hitting .333 in 12 games this year for the Tigers, who have struggled offensively, where they have hit .203 as a team. The bigger challenge has been on the mound, where they enter this weekend with a team ERA of 7.96, and opponents are hitting .328 against the pitching staff.
TURNING TWO
Utah Valley is currently ranked first in the WAC in double plays turned. They entered the week averaging one double play a game, which puts them at No. 24 in the country. The national leader is Washington, with a 1.56. The infield has helped turn a couple of key double plays this season, including some in the series against Portland, to help keep the momentum.
GOING YARD
Utah Valley has hit 19 home runs through their first three weekends of the season, placing them at the top of the WAC and at No. 33 nationally. Lovings and Dickinson are second in the conference with five on the season. The power output by the Wolverines has shown up in the slugging percentage category, where UVU has slugged.479 this season and is chasing the school record of .586 set in 2010.
ON DECK
The Wolverines will return home next weekend (Mar. 15-17) for a series against Stephen F. Austin before embarking on a two-game road trip to Arizona State (Mar. 19-20).
