OREM, Utah – Utah Valley baseball returns to the diamond this week for a four-game series against San José State at Excite Ballpark. It will be the first visit to San Jose since 2020 in the shortened COVID season.  Excite Ballpark is the home of the San Francisco Giants' minor league affiliate, the San Jose Giants.
 
BROADCAST INFO
The series' first two games will air on the Mountain West Network with live stats available for all games on UVUstats.com.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Wolverines finished 2-2 on opening weekend in Riverside against UC Riverside. UVU dropped the series opener after Corbin Kirk went five innings, and the bullpen of Landon Zaborowski and Jacob Heppner kept them in a position to win the game, but they couldn't come up with the hits necessary. They rebounded on Saturday with a five-run fourth inning to even the series. DJ Massey finished 3-for-5 in his UVU debut with two RBIs, and Joe McBride drove in three runs.
 
Utah Valley dropped a heartbreaker on Sunday by giving up three runs in the bottom of the ninth, and they responded with a 10-7 win in extras on Sunday that featured a four-run eighth inning and three-run 11^th. Dominic Longo II, Luke Iverson, and CJ Colyer, with Colyer's three-run shot, opened the game up late. Garrett Miller pitched the final two innings with five strikeouts of the six hitters he faced.
 
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
They enter their home opening series with a 2-1 record after winning their series at Louisiana. Alex Fernandes was named the Mountain West Player of the Week after going 7-for-9 with six runs and four RBIs. SJSU averaged over seven runs a game offensively and only allowed 14 runs during their series down south.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Spartans hold an all-time series lead 3-2, with the only previous series coming at Excite Ballpark in 2020. The series featured two Utah Valley victories, including a 13-inning contest in the first game of a doubleheader that the Wolverines won 6-5. They concluded the weekend with a 1-0 win on Mar. 1.
 
STRIKE THREE
Utah Valley pitchers combined for 50 strikeouts over four games last weekend and are currently No. 29 in the country in strikeouts per nine innings. Wayland Crane, Alan Huerta, and Jacob Heppner all finished with six strikeouts. Corbin Kirk, Garrett Miller, and Colton Kennedy added five for the Utah Valley staff.
 
The Wolverines staff also held the No. 21 strikeout to walk ratios at 4.55. The pitchers only surrendered 11 walks over the four games.
 
PAST TEAMMATES
In this series are two different sets of the teammates who played together at the junior college ranks and now continue their baseball careers at other schools. UVU's Kevin Parker and Zachary Tallerman (SJSU) were teammates at back at Berkeley High School. The other group played together at San Joaquin Delta with Joseph Barnhardt (UVU) and the Spartans' Tyson Pereria and Dominic Brassesco.
 
UP NEXT
Utah Valley will return home for the 2025 home opening series against UC Davis, starting on Friday, Feb. 28, at 4:05 p.m. MT. This will be the third season the two have played together.