SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Utah Valley baseball fell in the WAC opener on Friday afternoon at John Smith Field. UVU (3-9, 0-1) held the lead until the late innings but could not hold off the Sacramento State (6-7, 1-0) bats late.
 
Utah Valley broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third inning when Burke Camper homered to left field to give UVU a 1-0 lead. It was his fourth homer of the year, putting him one behind the UVU leaders of Daniel Dickinson and Isaac Lovings with five this season.
 
Braden Boisvert tossed 6.0 innings with seven strikeouts and limited the Hornet bats to two runs over five hits. He struck out three consecutive Hornets with the final two outs of the second and the first out of the third inning.
 
Sacramento State tied the game up in the fourth inning after a sac fly from Tyler White tied the game after singles from Gunnar Gouldsmith and JP Smith put runners on the corner.
 
Calyn Halvorson led off with a double in the top of the sixth inning and gave the Wolverines a 2-1 lead when he scored on a single from Luke Iverson. UVU had a runner on second after Iverson stole second with one out, but the Hornets navigated the threat to keep the game at 2-1.
 
Leading 2-1 in the top of the eighth, UVU looked for insurance runs against the Hornets. Dickinson singled to start the inning before Camper recorded his second hit of the game, this time an infield single to put two runners on with no outs. The runners were on the corners after a fly ball moved Dickinson to third base, and UVU took a 3-1 advantage on a single from Iverson for his second RBI of the game.
 
Sacramento State looked to rally and scored two runs in the eighth against the combination of Boisvert and Gray Bailey. They first scored on a solo home run from Jacob Cortez, and later, an RBI single from Cesar Valero tied the game at 3-3. The Hornets walked it off with a play at the plate, but the runner slid under the tag for the 4-3 victory.
 
For the third time this season, Iverson recorded two RBIs while finishing 2-for-4. Camper and Halvorson also added two hits, as the 2-4 spots in the lineup combined for six of UVU's seven hits. Chase Hennessey made his fourth appearance of the year, tossing one inning with a strikeout.
 
The Wolverines and Hornets will play tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. MT from John Smith Field. The series wraps up on Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. MT start.