ABILENE, Texas – Hunter Katschke hit a go-ahead three-run home in the top of the ninth on Saturday to lift Utah Valley to a 5-3 victory over Abilene Christian. UVU (16-33) got seven combined innings of scoreless relief from
Bradley Gilbert and
Colton Kennedy to keep the WAC Tournament hopes alive. ACU (24-26, 7-7) was led by Nick Arias, who finished 2-for-5.
The Wildcats scored two runs in the bottom of the first as the inning ended with a strong relay to the plate from
Jimmy De Anda to
Chipper Beck to
Derek Houston. The UVU offense tied the game in the second inning after Beck walked before
Mason Strong's single to put runners on the corners with no outs.
The first two runs scored on back-to-back groundballs, the first hit to ACU shortstop Zandt Payne, who threw low to second, before
Brody Block added a grounder to tie the game.
Bradley Gilbert entered the game midway through the second inning as the Wildcats threatened with the bases loaded, but he struck out Diego Cardenas and got Arias to ground out to keep the game knotted up at 2. The righty went on to end both the third and fourth innings with a pair of strikeouts on his way to a new career-high seven strikeouts, which was one more than his previous high of six that he set against Northern Colorado on Mar. 6.
Utah Valley threatened to take the lead in the fifth inning after a two-out double by
Kaden Carpenter, but the inning ended on a caught stealing with Beck at the plate. Beck, though, stepped up defensively and made two outstanding defensive plays to take hits away from Wildcat hitters, including taking a hit away from Maddox Miese on a grounder in the fifth inning with a spinning throw over to first.
The Wolverines' best chance to take the lead through the middle and into the late innings came in the seventh, starting with a one-out single by
Mason Hamlin, who moved into scoring position with a stolen base. After Katschke was intentionally walked with a 2-0 count, De Anda was hit by a pitch to fill the bases. Following an ACU mound visit, UVU caught some bad luck as Carpenter hit a light chopper back to the mound and they turned a 1-2-3 double play to end the threat.
UVU senior, Kennedy, stepped in to replace Gilbert and picked right up where his counterpart ended, striking out the first two hitters he faced in the seventh inning before adding two more in the eighth by sending down JT Thompson and Brady Ladusau.
The ninth inning started with a single through the middle by Brass and a walk to Hamlin before Katschke's homer made it 5-2. He passed Jordan Ribera (Fresno State, 2008-2011) and New Mexico State slugger, Tristen Carrazna (2016-2019) for ninth on the WAC career homer list, with 45. He needs one to tie Sky Smeltzer (Wyoming, 1986-1989).
The Wildcats looked for a two-out rally against Kennedy in the ninth with Payne and Cardenas working walks to bring the tying run to the dish. They scored one run on a single by Arias, but Miese struck out to end the game.
UP NEXT
Utah Valley will go for the series win tomorrow morning. Due to potential severe weather in the area, the first pitch was moved up to 10:00 a.m. MT / 11:00 a.m. CT on WAC International.
