The Utah Valley University baseball team started their 2022 season 1-3 in a four-game series against Texas State in San Marco, Texas Feb. 18-20. Under new coach Eddie Smith, the Wolverines managed to steal a 5-3 win on Saturday; however, they fell 5-3 on Friday, 14-4 in Saturday’s first game, and 14-2 on Sunday.
Game one was close, but the Bobcats managed to defeat the Wolverines 5-3. The Bobcats started strong with a 3-0 lead in the second inning, so Wolverine senior Bobby Voortmeyer took the mound as relief and kept the Bobcats scoreless until the eighth.
Led by Mitch Moralez and Brody Ponti, the Wolverines rallied in the seventh inning and tied the game. Moralez started the comeback with an RBI single that plated runner Garrett Broussard. Mick Madsen scored the second run for the Wolverines thanks to a sacrifice fly from Copper Hansen. With the bases loaded, Ponti hit a ground ball that brought runner Drew Sims home, bringing the score to 3-3 in the top of the seventh.
Unable to complete the comeback, the Wolverines went scoreless in the last two innings, while Texas State’s Wesley Faison hit a double in the bottom of the eighth that brought in two runners and won the game for the Bobcats.
In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Wolverines fell to the Bobcats 14-4 by run rule after eight innings. Madsen was the first player to score and hit a two-run single in the first that brought in Brousard and Paul Vossen, but the Bobcats hit back in the second and took a 6-2 lead. The Wolverines bounced back in the third with a leadoff double from Ponti, an RBI triple from Vossen, and an RBI groundout from Madsen which brought the score to 6-4. However, the Wolverines went scoreless for the rest of the match, and the Bobcats secured a victory.
The second game of Saturday’s doubleheader was much closer as the Wolverines stole a 5-3 victory from the home team. Kayler Yates started the scoring with his first home run, giving UVU a 1-0 lead in the second, and pitcher Mason Gray allowed the Bobcats just one hit before retiring from the mound in the fifth. Texas State managed to tie the game 1-1 in the sixth when Bobcat Daylen Pena hit a two-out solo home run, but the Wolverine offense took over and scored four runs in the top of the eighth. Drew Sims led the Wolverines offensively by going 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored, and Brandon Luna also had a strong performance and drove in two runs.
In the series finale on Sunday, the Wolverines started strong and tied the game 2-2. Kayler Yates came in from third on a wild pitch, and Hansen hit an RBI that plated Moralez. But the Bobcats proved to be too much for the Wolverines and won the match 14-2 by run rule in the eighth.
The Wolverines start the season 1-3 and look to bounce back as they return home to Orem, Utah to take on the University of Utah Feb. 12. The game begins at 4:05 p.m. MT and can be streamed on ESPN+. Below are the full results from all four matches.
Game one
Utah Valley 3
Position Player AB R H RBI BB SO LOB LF Cutchen, Trey 4 0 1 0 0 2 1 1B Ponti, Brody 4 0 1 1 0 2 0 RF Vossen, Paul 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 3B Broussard, Garrett 4 1 1 0 0 3 0 2B Madsen, Mick 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 C Sims, Drew 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 SS Yates, Kayler 2 0 0 0 1 2 0 CF Moralez, Mitch 4 0 1 1 0 2 1 DH Hansen, Copper 2 0 0 1 1 2 1 P Smith, Devin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Voortmeyer, B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 30 3 4 3 3 17 4
Texas State 5
Position Player AB R H RBI BB SO LOB SS Shuffield, Dalton 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 RF Wuthrich, John 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 1B Pena, Daylan 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 LF Gonzalez, Jose 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 DH Faison, Wesley 4 2 3 2 0 0 0 3B Thompson, Justin 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 C Lewis, Peyton 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 2B Gibbons, Cameron 4 1 1 0 0 0 3 CF Ortega-Jones, Isaiah 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 P Wood, Zeke 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Sundgren, Trevis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Stivors, Tristan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 32 5 7 3 3 5 6
Game two
Utah Valley 4
Position Player AB R H RBI BB SO LOB LF Cutchen, Trey 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 1B Ponti, Brody 4 1 2 0 0 2 0 SS Coburn, Kyle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 RF Vossen, Paul 4 2 3 1 0 0 0 SS Broussard, Garrett 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 1B Luna, Brandon 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2B Madsen, Mick 4 0 1 3 0 0 1 DH Sims, Drew 4 0 1 0 0 2 1 CF Moralez, Mitch 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 C Hansen, Copper 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 3B Jordan, Cole 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 P Beardsley, Cal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P McCollough, Luke 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Karns, Alex 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Brown, Carson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 32 4 10 4 2 7 7
Texas State 14
Position Player AB R H RBI BB SO LOB SS Shuffield, Dalton 4 4 2 1 1 0 0 PH Leary, Ryan 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 RF Wuthrich, John 3 2 2 2 1 0 0 1B Pena, Daylan 4 0 1 2 0 2 0 LF Gonzalez, Jose 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 DH Faison, Wesley 4 0 2 2 1 0 2 3B Thompson, Justin 4 2 2 0 1 0 3 C Ramirez, August 4 2 2 1 1 1 0 2B Gibbons, Cameron 5 2 2 1 0 1 2 CF Ortega-Jones, Isaiah 3 2 2 1 0 0 1 PH Atkinson, Kyle 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 P Dixon, Triston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Keithley, Carson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 36 14 16 14 5 5 8
Game three
Utah Valley 5
Position Player AB R H RBI BB SO LOB LF Cutchen, Trey 5 0 1 1 0 1 0 3B Broussard, Garrett 5 0 0 0 0 1 2 1B Madsen, Mick 2 1 1 0 3 1 1 C Sims, Drew 5 1 2 0 0 0 2 SS Yates, Kayler 4 2 1 1 1 1 0 CF Moralez, Mitch 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 RF Jordan, Cole 4 0 2 1 0 1 0 DH Luna, Brandon 3 1 1 2 0 0 1 2B Coburn, Kyle 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 P Gray, Mason 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Hauck, Andrew 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Sims, Nick 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 37 5 9 5 4 7 10
Texas State 3
Position Player AB R H RBI BB SO LOB CF McClain, Ben 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 RF Wuthrich, John 5 0 0 0 0 1 2 1B Pena, Daylan 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 LF Gonzalez, Jose 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 DH Faison, Wesley 3 0 0 0 1 2 1 3B Thompson, Justin 4 0 1 0 0 0 3 2B Manning, Cade 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 2B Gibbons, Cameron 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 C Lewis, Peyton 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 SS Leary, Ryan 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 SS Shuffield, Dalton 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 P Wells, Levi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Bush, Cameron 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Wofford, Otto 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Nicholas, Matthew 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Zabel, Peyton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 33 3 7 3 4 4 8
Game four
Utah Valley 2
Position Player AB R H RBI BB SO LOB LF Cutchen, Trey 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 1B Ponti, Brody 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 DH Vossen, Paul 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 3B Coburn, Kyle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3B/SS Broussard, Garrett 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 2B Madsen, Mick 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 SS/P Yates, Kayler 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 P Cook, Dylan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 CF Moralez, Mitch 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 C Hansen, Copper 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 RF Jordan, Cole 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 P Yocum, Cole 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Rust, Coop 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Zeleny, Blake 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Brown, Josh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 28 2 5 1 2 7 4
Texas State 14
Position Player AB R H RBI BB SO LOB LF McClain, Ben 4 1 0 0 1 1 2 RF Wuthrich, John 4 3 3 1 1 0 0 DH Faison, Wesley 5 2 2 0 0 0 0 SS Shuffield, Dalton 4 2 3 2 0 0 0 1B Pena, Daylan 4 2 2 3 1 0 2 3B Thompson, Justin 4 2 1 1 1 1 0 C Lewis, Peyton 4 1 1 1 1 2 2 2B Gibbons, Cameron 4 0 2 3 1 0 0 CF Ortega-Jones, Isaiah 4 1 1 3 1 1 3 P Robie, Tony 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Nicholas, Matthew 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P Smith, Austin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 37 14 15 14 7 5 9
