In what seemed to be the first of Utah’s baseball-permitting weather of the season, the Wolverines’ offense was stellar and they beat in-state foe, the University of Utah 8-2.
Utah Valley got off to a good start scoring two runs in the bottom of the first, but the Utes would answer, scoring two in the top of the second off of two Wolverine errors and a sac fly. After that, it was all Utah Valley.
In the bottom of the inning, Jace Brinkerhoff doubled in a run and scored a run. The Wolverines did not look back from there.
Utah Valley posted 13 hits and eight of the nine starters got a hit, four of which had multi-hit games: Chris Benson, Ryan Jones, Jake Rickenbach and Sage Thorpe.
The highlight at the plate, however, was Kirk Doxey who homered in the eighth, giving him at least one home run in four straight games and six in the last four games.
Doxey also had a game-changing catch in the sixth. After walking the lead off hitter in the inning, Tyler Yagi of the Utes hit a hard fly ball to left center field and Doxey made a diving catch at warning the track, taking away an extra base hit.
The Wolverines’ pitching was also stellar. Brock Sargent pitched five innings and allowed only two hits. The bullpen also did its part posting four shutout innings.
“We were challenged by coach Carter after last weekend to turn it around and we stepped up to that challenge,” said Sargent, whose record as of April 9 is 2-5 on the season.
The Wolverines will be back home for a seven game stint when they face Dallas Baptist April 16 for a three-game series, as well as in-state opponents Southern Utah, BYU and a rematch with Utah.
