OREM, Utah—The Utah Valley University bats came to life on Sunday in a 15-6 series finale win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Brent Brown Ballpark. The Wolverines pounded out 16 hits on the day in the 2-1 series win over the Golden Gophers. Ryne Edmondson led the way for UVU by going 2-for-4 with four RBIs, three runs scored, inlcuding a three-run home run to right field.
“I’ve just been trying to be as relaxed as I can at the plate, also in the field,” said Edmondson. “Just have confidence in myself, play the game hard, hustle everywhere.”
The Gophers struck early with a towering two-run home run down the left field line from Troy Traxler. Luke Pettersen kept the rally alive with a single to center, but the momentum died quickly after Riley Smith was ruled out after home plate umpire Andrew Torfin called batter interference on Pettersen’s attempt to steal second.
The Wolverines answered in the bottom of the second inning with Edmondson’s three-run homer. UVU kept scoring in the bottom of the third when Spencer Gothberg singled to center and plated Bogden, Gothberg advanced to second and Mark Krueger to third on the throw to the plate. Two batters later, Jake Atkinson cleared the bases with a single to center and gave the Wolverines a 6-2 lead.
UM struck back in the top of the fourth inning with a two-run double down the left field line by Riley Smith, scoring Traxler and Jordan Smith. Two batters later, Matt Fiedler shot a single up the middle to score Riley Smith from third. Then Matt Stemper sent an RBI double off the left center field fence to score Fiedler and tie the game at six.
UVU battled to take back a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI double by second baseman Trevor Howell, who also plated Edmondson on a sacrifice fly to left field for an 8-6 lead in the sixth inning.
The big inning for the Wolverines came in the five-run seventh when nine batters stepped to the plate. Krueger, Edmondson, and Howell all tallied one RBI, while Schlehuber notched a pair of RBIs with a bases-loaded single to right field. UVU put up two more runs in the eighth as Krueger scored on a wild pitch and Gothberg scored on an Atkinson single for the final margin of 15-6.
“I thought we got a pretty start,” UVU coach Eric Madsen said. “We came out good. We’ve stressed a lot about the individual, have to take responsibility about what they need to do, and I thought they did a good job of that today. The biggest thing is they kept the pressure on all the time. We had some situations that we could of kind of come undone and we didn’t.”
Greyson Bogden extended his hitting streak to six games with three hits on the day.
UVU travels to Tucson, Ariz. to take on the Arizona Wildcats on Tuesday, Mar. 22, at 6 p.m. MT.
