Utah Valley baseball defeated Utah Tech 6-0 on Friday afternoon at UCCU Ballpark. It was UVU’s (15-17, 7-4) first combined shutout since Mar. 4, 2023, at Portland. Mitch Mueller set a new career-high with 7.0 innings and struck out four Utah Tech hitters (8-20, 6-8).

“It was a great team effort again today. If we can play together in this way consistently we have the opportunity for a special back half of our season,” said UVU head coach Eddie Smith.

Utah Tech looked to break through in the second inning with a leadoff single, but Mueller and the UVU defense had other ideas. They quickly turned a double play for the two outs. The Trailblazers’ inning ended when Isaac Lovings caught a runner trying to swipe second base.

The strong defense turned to offense in the second as Nate Bach went the other way for a solo home run to give UVU a 1-0 lead. It was his 11th home run of the season which puts him atop the team leaderboard.

UVU added to its 1-0 lead in the fourth. After Burke Camper drew a walk, Calyn Halvorson hit a line-drive home run to make it 3-0 in the fourth inning. The Wolverines were not done yet. Jayden Smith and Cole Jordan both reached base before Isaac Lovings singled to left field on a blooper to score one and make it 4-0. The scoring was capped at five runs after Matthew Schwarz hit a grounder that was mishandled by the Trailblazers, allowing a run to score and made it 5-0.

Mueller was in a groove on his way to earning his third win of the season. He recorded 13 groundouts of 25 batters faced on the afternoon and his day ended with a strikeout in the top of the seventh inning. The Wolverine bats added to their lead in the home half as Schwarz singled on a bunt, Dickinson walked, and Camper loaded the bases. Halvorson drove in his third run of the game with a sacrifice fly to right and put UVU in front 6-0.

Ethan Fowlks came in and pitched the eighth inning. The inning started with a walk to Ethan He before a 5-4-3 double play ended the inning with no damage done. In the ninth, Robby Butenschoen gave up a leadoff single from Hunter Katschke before UVU ended the game by turning their third double play.

Friday’s game was the second Wolverine win in the series after UVU knocked off Utah Tech, 11-1, in seven innings on Thursday.

The home team completed the sweep with another big win, cruising to the 15-5 victory in eight innings on Sunday afternoon.

In the finale, the Trailblazers had a 3-1 lead after the top of the second inning, but the Wolverines seized control with five runs in the bottom half of the frame and never looked back.

Dickinson and Camper once again led the way as Dickinson went 3-for-3 at the plate with a home run, two RBI and four runs scored, while Camper smashed two homers to total six RBI.

UVU will take a break from WAC play when it hosts Northwest Nazarene at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

UVU track enjoys success in meet limited by weather conditions

Weather forced the cancellation of Saturday’s Utah Spring Classic for Utah Valley University’s outdoor track & field squad. The Wolverines competed on Friday in the first half of the combined meet at Weber State’s Spring Open, where UVU had three top-10 marks and four gold finishes.

Austin Kleinman won the hammer with his best throw of 57.64 meters while Andrew Smith took fourth with a personal record of 52.46 meters that moved him into the No. 6 spot in UVU’s record book. Kade Thompson won the men’s 100-meter dash (10.90s) with Gabriel Remy and Luke Furnell coming in third and fourth, respectively. Sarah Ballard won the women’s 100-meter race with a time of 12.52 seconds, while Amy Ballard, her sister, was first in the long jump (5.62m) with Kelsi Oldroyd coming in second (5.57m).

The women had two new Top 10 marks in the mile. Abbie Fuhriman ran an altitude-adjusted time of 5:09.73, putting her in the No. 7 spot while Liza Sybrowsky entered the top 10 in eighth with her mile time of 5:11.87.

Other notable finishes included: Ella Hooper and Larissa Dabb taking third and fourth, respectively, in the women’s 400 while Dallin Anderson was fourth in the men’s race; Paige Young with a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles and Isaiah Gerald was third in the men’s 110-meter hurdles; Aubrey Tasker was fourth in the high jump, and Olivia Pixton was fourth in the long jump, giving Utah Valley three of the top four spots; and Alyssa Logan was just shy of her PR in the hammer, taking fourth with a throw of 51.92 meters.

Due to inclement weather, the men’s and women’s discus was not held and the men’s high jump was not completed. Next week the Wolverines will head to the Bryan Clay Invitational as well as meets at Long Beach State and Utah State.

Wolverine softball loses doubleheader to CBU

Megan Gibbs hit her 9th home run of the season and Halle Morris extended her reached-base streak to 16 games as Utah Valley (14-19, 8-5 WAC) was swept in a doubleheader by the California Baptist Lancers (22-19, 9-3 WAC) on Friday afternoon at Wolverine Softball Field in Orem.

Game one was a marathon, as the Lancers ultimately prevailed 16-10 in a game that took nearly three hours. CBU’s Morgan Mcconnell shut down the Wolverine lineup in game two, with the Lancers winning 8-0 in six innings.

Payge Armendariz went a combined 4-for-8 between the two games with a trio of doubles. Armendariz has an extra-base hit in four straight games and in five of her last six.

Saturday’s scheduled game was cancelled due to the weater.

UVU women’s and men’s golf teams head to out-of-state tournaments

The Utah Valley women’s golf team travels to The Grand Canyon State to compete in Bobcat Desert Classic, April 8-10, at the Golf Club of Estrella in Goodyear, Arizona.

The Wolverine men’s golf squad is off to the Golden State this week to compete in the Gaucho Invitational, April 8-9, at Sandpiper Golf Club in Goleta, California.

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