OREM, Utah—The UVU baseball team took the opener of a three-game series from the Northern Colorado Bears by a final of 4-2 Friday. With the game tied 2-2 in the seventh inning and Greyson Bogden on third base, Spencer Gothberg sent a high fly ball off the right center field fence for a triple. Two batters later, Jake Atkinson gave the Wolverines a 4-2 lead as he shot a line drive into the right center field gap for a triple of his own.
Bogden went 3-for-4 on the night and scored three runs to lead UVU. Mark Krueger extended his current hitting streak to 14 games with an RBI double in the first inning.
“I thought Greyson did a good job getting on base, but I really thought Mark looked great at the plate, Spencer did a good job,” said UVU coach Eric Madsen. “You hope the middle of your lineup will do it, we haven’t had a lot where it’s just been that consistent, so I was real pleased with that. Hopefully we get the top and the bottom going a little bit, and the middle keeps knocking runs in.”
Pitchers Patrick Wolfe and Jake Mayer combined to allow two runs on just four hits. Mayer was awarded the win as the Wolverines improved to 17-14 on the season and 4-3 in WAC play.
Bogden started the Wolverines early with a two-out single through the left side of the infield to keep the first inning rolling. With Krueger at the plate, Bogden stole second then scored on Krueger’s ensuing double to right field to give UVU a 1-0 lead.
The Bears answered by manufacturing a run in the second. Dan Reese drew a one-out walk for UNC then stole second base. Ryan Yamane hit a sacrifice fly to center field, which advanced Reese to third. Dean Lawson hit a two-out single to right field to score Reese and tied the game 1-1.
UVU responded as Bogden reached on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the fifth after Stone Ramsey hit a one-out single. Krueger and Spencer Gothberg then drew back-to-back walks to load the bases with two outs for Craig Brinkerhoff, who knocked in Bogden with an infield single to shortstop to give UVU a 2-1 lead. However, the lead was short-lived as UNC’s Cole Maltese hit a towering home run over the left field wall to tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the sixth inning.
Mayer came in to replace Wolfe after Maltese’s homer and shut down the Bears by retiring 12 of the final 13 UNC batters of the game, including his first seven in a row.
Bogden once again got UVU going in the bottom of the seventh with a hard-hit single to center field, then again stole second base. Krueger grounded out to second, which advanced Bogden to third. On a 2-2 pitch, Gothberg ripped a soaring triple off the right center field fence to score Bogden. After Brinkerhoff fouled out to first base, Atkinson sent a frozen rope into the right center gap that rolled to the fence for another triple to give UVU a 4-2 lead.
Danny Beddes is projected to start for the Wolverines for game two of the three-game set, which will be played Saturday at 6 p.m. at Brent Brown Ballpark.
