OREM, Utah—The Utah Valley University baseball team took a beating at the hands of the North Dakota Fighting Hawks and their bats by a score of 13-7 in the first of a three-game series Friday night. Starting pitcher Patrick Wolfe struggled with his command early and allowed five runs on seven hits over 4.2 innings. The Fighting Hawks pounded out a season-high 20 hits, including seven for extra bases.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to North Dakota,” said UVU coach Eric Madsen. “They came out and were ready to play. We got on them early and they just didn’t quit. They played hard throughout the game, and they beat us up.”
UVU took an early 5-1 lead in the second inning after Craig Brinkerhoff led off with a booming home run over the left field fence. After a pair of singles by Justin Erlandson and Trevor Howell, Zac Willis smoked a two-run double into the left field corner to give the Wolverines a 4-1 lead. Two pitches later, Greyson Bogden dropped a single into left center field to plate Willis.
UND chipped away at UVU’s lead in the third inning as Miles Lewis hit a solo home run over the left center field fence. Ellery Bresnahan, who entered the game batting .073, hit a two-out RBI double in the fourth to get the Fighting Hawks within 5-4.
UND took a 6-5 lead in the fifth inning with a Tyler Midas two-out, two-run double down the left field line. UVU never saw the lead again. After back-to-back singles for the Fighting Hawks in the seventh, Brett Harrison hit an RBI single to left field. Bresnahan broke the game open on the very next pitch with a three-run home run to right field and increased the Fighting Hawks’ lead to 10-5.
The Wolverines battled back in the late innings. UVU got one run back in the eighth as Craig Brinkerhoff scored on a fielder’s choice, then Bogden scored on a pinch-hit single by Jesse Emery in the ninth, which took the score to the final margin of 13-7.
UVU looks to even the series in the the second game of the three-game set Saturday at 6 p.m. MT when Danny Beddes takes the mound.
