1 / 3

Orem High School pitcher Paxton Schultz poses for a portrait at the school during a practice on Wednesday, March 23, 2016 in Orem. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald

Dominic Valente, Daily Herald

2 / 3

UVU pitcher Paxton Schultz talks with catcher Ethan Payne during a game against CSU Bakersfield on Saturday, April, 14, 2018. 

Marcela Olsen, UVU Athletics

3 / 3

UVU right-hander Paxton Schultz (27) delivers to the plate against Sacramento State on Saturday, April 1, 2017, at Brent Brown Ballpark in Orem.

UVU PHOTO

❮ ❯

It was a pretty good day for former Orem High and UVU star pitcher Paxton Schultz.

The Toronto Blue Jays announced on Sunday morning that they added the former Wolverine hurler to the Major League roster ahead of Sunday’s contest with the Seattle Mariners.

He didn’t waste any time getting onto the field, getting called to relieve Toronto starter Easton Lucas in the top of the second inning with the Blue Jays trailing 6-0. Schultz proceeded to strike out eight Seattle batters which, according to Toronto’s @BlueJays X account, tied a Major League Baseball record for a reliever making his debut.

Schultz only allowed two hits and didn’t give up a walk in 4 1/3 shutout innings, although the Blue Jay offense wasn’t able to overcome the deficit and Toronto lost, 8-3.

Schultz becomes the third player in UVU history to be called up after Mitch Jones and Kam Mickolio. He has spent the first three weeks of the minor league season with Triple-A Buffalo, appearing in four games and pitching 8 2/3 innings. This spring, he earned time with the big club, pitching in three spring training games and earning a save against the Boston Red Sox.

The Orem, Utah, native (and Orem High grad) finished his UVU career with a 4.61 ERA in 46 appearances and 30 starts. During the 2019 season, he tied UVU’s single-season school record with 99 strikeouts, including five appearances of 10 or more strikeouts. His career-high 11 strikeouts came on the road against SEC power South Carolina.

Following the 2019 season, the Milwaukee Brewers drafted him in the 14th round with the 433rd overall pick. He started his minor league career in the Pioneer League with the Rocky Mountain Vibes before being traded to the Blue Jays in May 2021. He advanced through their minor league system with stops in Vancouver, New Hampshire, and Buffalo.

UVU baseball can’t keep up with Tarleton State

Utah Valley baseball fell 12-6 on Saturday afternoon to Tarleton State University at UCCU Ballpark in Orem.

UVU (25-15, 10-5) was led offensively by Luke Iverson, Brody Block, and DJ Massey, who recorded three hits in the contest. TSU (16-25, 5-7) pulled away with a six-run sixth inning.

Utah Valley took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after the first two hitters reached base with singles by Iverson and Frei. Mason Strong put the Wolverines in front on a groundout later in the inning with runners on the corners.

UVU starting pitcher, Colton Kennedy, worked a 1-2-3 first inning with a pair of strikeouts before the inning ended on a foul out. The Texans quickly took their first lead with three hits in the second, with the big blast coming from Tyson Drake, who homered to left to put them up 3-1.

The Wolverines had a big inning on their mind in the second inning, starting with a single by Block, who ended the day 3-for-4 with a walk, before a pitch hit CJ Colyer to put two runners on base and no one out. UVU plated a run when Massey doubled down the left field line to make it 3-2, but Tarleton State’s Jake Burcham recorded the final two outs and kept his team in front.

The Wolverines kept it close, including chipping the TSU lead down to 4-3 in the fifth inning when Dominic Longo II reached on a throwing error and moved to second on a single by Strong. Trailing 4-2 with the tying run on base, Block delivered again with a single up the middle to make it 4-3.

In the late innings, Utah Valley trailed 11-3, and they looked to come back as they loaded the bases with singles by Massey and Iverson before Landon Frei walked. Following a pitching change, Longo II walked to make it 11-4. They cut the lead down to 11-5 on a sacrifice fly by Strong before Nate Bach singled to make it 11-6. The bases remained loaded after new Tarleton State pitcher Andrew Hardin walked Block, but he got the next two hitters on a lineout and strikeout.

Kennedy finished with 5 1/3 innings on seven hits and six strikeouts and took his first loss of the season. Jacob Heppner added 3 1/3 innings of relief, and Cooper Littledike tossed 1/3, including a strikeout.

Strong recorded his 20th multi-hit game of the season and has now hit safely in 12 games, while Frei has now reached in 39 games, and Iverson in 38 consecutive games.

The Wolverines will stay at home with the two in-state rivalry games this week, starting on Monday, Apr. 21, at 6 p.m. MT against BYU and on Tuesday, Apr. 22, against Utah at 6 p.m. MT. The games mark the only visits this season by the local Big 12 foes.

Wolverine track sets records in California

Utah Valley’s men’s relay squads had a big day on Saturday as the Wolverines wrapped up the weekend at the Mt. Sac Relays and the Beach Invitational.

The 4×400 squad of Cameron Franklin, Isaiah Archer, Brayden Walker, and Max Clemons set a new school record while finishing in second at the Beach Invite at Long Beach State. The quartet finished in 3:10.16 to set the new No. 1 mark.

On Friday, Mo Guled set a Utah Valley University school record while winning the 5,000-meter race at the Mt. Sac Relays on Friday night at Hilmer Lodge Stadium. Guled’s time (13:42.22) currently puts him atop the WAC and in the top 25 in the west this season.

Caila Odekirk also won the women’s 5k Elite and Elisabeth Ferrell the 1500-meter Elite at the Mt. Sac Relays, while the Wolverines picked up a gold at the Beach Invitational at Long Beach State from Grace Williams in the pole vault.

Guled won the 5k convincingly, besting the No. 2 finisher by over 23 seconds. Alex Hartshorn came in third (14:09.14) with a personal best that puts him fifth in the school’s top 10. UVU had three of the top six finishers of the 21-person race, with Wyatt Mortenson taking sixth in 14:21.38. Guled now holds both the indoor and outdoor 5k records and recently set the outdoor 10k record at Stanford. He’s also the reigning WAC Champion in the indoor 5k.

Odekirk’s win (16:02.24) in the women’s 5k came ahead of second-place finisher and WAC Indoor 5k champion Anna Martin, who is now No. 6 in the school’s top 10. Odekirk owns the No. 3 spot in the record book and was just shy of her PR of 15:59.78.

Ferrell’s win came in 4:31.18, with Liz Zwahlen (4:33.64) coming in fourth out of the 19 competitors. On the men’s side, Gilbert Olivas, who holds the school record, took fourth place and was just three seconds off the record; he finished Friday’s race in 3:48.57.

At the Beach Invitational at Long Beach State, Williams hit 3.80 on her first attempt to bring home gold.

The Wolverines will be off next week before the final tune-up prior to the WAC Championships, at Southern Utah on May 1. The WAC Outdoor Championships will be May 15-17 at UT Arlington.