The closest contest was the three-run Wolverine win on Saturday where UVU was led on the mound by Colton Kennedy, who finished with six innings and tied a career-high with nine strikeouts. Former Trailblazer Carston Herman finished the game with three innings, allowing one hit for his second save of the season.

Landon Frei led off the second with a double to left field for his first of two doubles. He extended his reached-base safely streak to 29 games with the hit. UVU took a 1-0 lead on a single from Brody Block with runners on the corners. The lead was extended to 3-0 when Jimmy De Anda doubled to left center and advanced to third base on a fielding error in left field.

The Trailblazers recorded eight hits against Kennedy but did not have much success getting runs across. Kase Naone cut the deficit to 3-2 with a two-run shot in the third inning. Kennedy answered right back and put up zeros, including getting out of a jam in the fourth inning with a flyout and a strikeout to keep Utah Valley in front and then added an inning-ending double play in the fifth.

Utah Valley pushed their lead out to 4-2 in the sixth inning, starting with a single by Strong before he moved into scoring position on a passed ball. Frei drove in his 35th RBI of the season on a base hit. Utah Tech answered back to make it 4-3 in the bottom half of the inning when Petey Soto, Jr. stole home and slid under the tag by Strong.

The Wolverines looked to add in the seventh after De Anda doubled for the second time in the game. With one out, Iverson was intentionally walked to put two runners on base, but Utah Tech starter Ryan Martinez worked through the jam.

Herman entered the game in the seventh inning and retired the side to help the UVU offense add some more insurance when Strong and Frei hit back-to-back home runs. It is the second time a duo has gone back-to-back this season, with De Anda and Kevin Parker, Jr. doing so against Seattle U.

The only recorded hit against Herman came in the ninth inning from Kyle McDaniel with a single, but it didn’t make a difference.

In the finale on Sunday, UVU got six runs apiece in the third and fourth innings to blow the game open. Wolverine centerfielder Jayden Smith went 3-for-5 at the plate with three RBIs, while shortstop DJ Massey went 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

UVU got a sparkling performance on the mound from Jacob Heppner, who went the distance and gave up no runs on just two hits with four strikeouts.

UVU (21-10, 7-2) now step out of league play for a pair of games at UNLV, starting Monday at 6 p.m. MT, before heading to Phoenix to face Grand Canyon later in the week.

Gibbs ties HR record but UVU softball loses at ACU

Megan Gibbs tied the Utah Valley record with her 41st career home run while driving in three and Victoria Vasquez drove in a pair, but the Wolverines were unable to complete the comeback, falling just short to the Abilene Christian Wildcats, 7-6, at the Wolverine Softball Field in Orem on Saturday afternoon.

After the Wildcats jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the third, the Wolverines clawed their way back to within one but stranded the potential tying run at second base.

Lily Riley pitched the final four frames and kept Utah Valley in the ballgame, allowing just one run on four hits and shutting ACU out the final three innings.

Utah Valley couldn’t cash in on a pair of leadoff runners in the 5th and 6th, but put together a rally in the seventh that came up just short. Gibbs hit a one-out solo homer to right center and Payge Armendariz doubled to left center, but Tatum Hall grounded out sharply to short to end the game.

The Wolverines will play their last road non-conference game on Tuesday when they travel to Ogden to face the Weber State Wildcats. First pitch of that game is slated for 3 p.m. MDT and will be streamed live on ESPN+.

Hill wins shot put on busy day for Wolverine track

Freshman Trevor Hill won the men’s shot put on the opening day of the UNLV Rebel ELITE as Utah Valley University’s throwers and jumpers opened action in Las Vegas on Friday.

Hill set a new personal record while improving on the No. 2 mark in the UVU record book with his best throw of 17.69 meters. Freshman Grace Degarimore also entered the women’s top 10 in the shot put with her best mark of 14.00 meters, which puts her tied for third in the record book. She finished fifth in the competition. Caleb Washington also matched his personal record and No. 10 mark in the men’s long jump with a mark of 6.74 meters.

At the Stanford Invitational, Mo Guled shattered the men’s 10,000-meter school record with his finish in 27:58.41, shaving over 45 seconds off the previous record, held by Habtamu Cheney. Guled finished 11th in the competitive heat after achieving the program’s first sub-28-minute 10k. Abdulsalam Farah recorded the No. 4 time in UVU’s 1500-meter history with his finish in 3:46.12. Anna Martin also recorded the fifth-best women’s 10k time as she finished third in the heat in 33:40.17.

On Saturday, Quincy Bonds continued her assault on the Utah Valley University record book with two school-record performances as the sprinters had a solid showing at the UNLV Rebel ELITE. Bonds won the 100-meter hurdles with a record time of 13.07 seconds, breaking her previous program record. She also broke a 14-year-old school record in the 100-meter dash, taking second place at the meet in 11.41 seconds.

Also of note, after last week’s UVU Collegiate Invitational, Alex Hartshorn’s conversion from the mile to the 1500 gives him the new school record in the 1500 at 3:44.41.

Next week, Utah Valley will send Matt Biggins and Cole Johnson to the Bryan Clay Multis, with the rest of the roster competing at the Weber State and Utah Spring Classics.