Courtesy UVU Athletics

There is one Division I baseball team from Utah that’s still playing games.

The Utah Valley Wolverines won the Western Athletic Conference Tournament last week and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Nate Rasmussen, in his first year as head coach, says his team is ready for the challenge of the Eugene Regional on Friday.

“We have a crazy, cool group of guys,” Rasmussen said on ESPN The Fan’s Brice and Bianucci Show on Tuesday. “The culture here has been really great the past couple of years. We have a bunch of guys that just want to play baseball and win together. That’s the part that’s pushed it over the top. Hopefully we get to spend some more weeks with this group playing together.”

UVU will face No. 12 Oregon in its first NCAA regional appearance since 2016 on Friday at 7 p.m. MT at PK Park in Eugene, Oregon. It will be just the second all-time meeting between the Ducks and Wolverines, and the first in the Willamette Valley.

“First and foremost, you’re in the WAC, a one-bid league this year, you’re 32-27 and a four seed so you know you’re going to play somebody good,” Rasmussen said. “We lucked out not having to travel across the country. We’ve been to Oregon this year. We have some players from Oregon and coaches from the Pacific Northwest, so there is a lot of familiarity in terms of going up there.

“Oregon is a really good baseball team and can really hit it. They have 107 homers this year and 300 walks. They can really do a lot of things on the basepaths. We have our work cut out for us, for sure.”

Darryl Webb, WAC

The game will air nationally on ESPNU, marking the first national television appearance in program history for the Wolverines. Roxy Bernstein and Wes Clements will be on the call for the Eugene Regional. Radio coverage will be provided by Jordan Bianucci and Brice Larson on 103.9 FM and 98.3 FM ESPN The Fan.

Utah Valley went 4-0 at last week’s University Credit Union WAC Baseball Tournament, winning its second WAC title and earning a spot in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Mason Strong was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after hitting .550, including a game-winning home run in the championship game. Dominic Longo II hit a walk-off homer against UT Arlington, while CJ Colyer powered UVU past Abilene Christian with a three-run homer in the ninth inning. Corbin Kirk struck out a career-high 13 batters to help the Wolverines reach the semifinals. Colton Kennedy and Cooper Littledike combined for the program’s first NCAA-level no-hitter to send UVU to the finals.

Oregon enters the Eugene Regional with a 42-14 overall record and a 22-8 mark in the Big Ten. The Ducks are led by Mason Neville, who tops the NCAA with 26 home runs. Jacob Walsh has added 19 home runs and is hitting .336. Oregon’s pitching staff owns a 3.97 ERA, with Friday starter Grayson Grinsell posting a 9-3 record and a 2.62 ERA. PK Park is expected to be at full capacity and will provide one of the premier atmospheres in college baseball.

“We just try to go and win Game 1,” Rasmussen said. “We’ll do everything in our power to do that and figure out Game 2 when we get there. If you start thinking about the Regional as a whole it becomes daunting but we try to figure out a way to win nine innings, and how to win the first inning of those nine innings, that becomes a little bit more attainable. That’s our focus and we’re ready to get after it.”

Utah Valley is 0-1 all-time against Oregon and 0-4 against Cal Poly. The Wolverines are 3-19 against Arizona but recorded a landmark win over the No. 4 Wildcats in 2012 in Orem.

Utah Valley will face either Arizona or Cal Poly on Saturday in either a 2:00 p.m. MT elimination game or a 7:00 p.m. winner’s bracket contest.

Remy moves on in 100, 200 meters at West Prelims

Utah Valley University sophomore Gabe Remy advanced past the first round of both the 100 and 200-meter dashes on Wednesday’s opening day of the 2025 NCAA Track & Field West Preliminary Rounds at Texas A&M’s E.B. Cushing Stadium.

Remy will vie for a berth at the NCAA Championships in Eugene in two weeks when he competes in the quarterfinal of both events on Friday. The 100-meter national quarterfinal will begin at 6:35 p.m. CT, with the 200 slated for a 7:50 p.m. start. Remy will run in the third and final heat of the 100 on Friday in lane eight, and he’ll be in lane two, in heat two, in the 200. The WAC Champion in both events two weeks ago in Arlington, Remy took third in his heat in both races to earn the automatic qualifying spot into the next round.

He’ll also race in the 4×100 to lead off the day on the track at 5 p.m. CT, where he’ll be joined by Cameron Franklin, Gavin Stafford, and Kade Thompson. The quartet will be in heat three of three and in lane seven. Thompson and Franklin were also in action on Wednesday.

Thompson competed in the 100 and Franklin in the 400, the race he won two weeks ago at the WAC Championships en route to three gold medals. Neither qualified for Friday’s quarterfinals but will look to earn a berth in the 400-meter relay.

Mo Guled finished just one spot shy of punching his ticket to Eugene in the 10,000-meter national semifinal. Guled was 13th — the top 12 advance to the final — with a time of 28:29.06. The depth of the race was evident as the top 17 runners all beat the previous facility record.

Alex Hartshorn competed in the 1500 and was 33rd overall with a time of 3:54.17. Also competing was Noah Peterson in the pole vault for the third year in a row, but came up short in his bid to advance.