April 1, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

OREM, Utah - Utah Valley will take on in-state rival Utah four times this week beginning Wednesday at 7pm in Orem at Brent Brown Ballpark. The teams will play Thursday and Friday at 6pm in Salt Lake City at Franklin Covey Field before wrapping up the week with a 1pm game on Saturday back in Orem.

The Wolverines (4-17-1) have lost six straight including a 12-6 loss on March 25th to the Utes (10-12) in Utah Valley's home opener. In that game Utah hammered out 21 hits and erased an early 4-1 deficit to beat UV.

Marcus Moore (2-4, 4.03), who started last week and took the loss against the Utes, will get the start on Wednesday. Andy Jangard (0-1, 3.00), Aaron Brady (1-2, 6.03) and Dan Christensen (1-3, 5.74) are the scheduled starters for Utah Valley.

John James (1-2, 4.15), Stephen Fife (3-2, 4.67) and Brian Budrow (4-2, 1.93) are the scheduled starters with Saturday TBA for the Utes. James started last week against the Wolverines and threw two innings and allowed one earned run on three hits.

The Wolverines are still struggling at the plate, hitting .237 as a team led by Jace Brinkerhoff's .340 average. Freshman Kai Hatch (.314) and Josh Hinckley (.311) are the only other hitters above .300.

Utah has won three straight after sweeping a snow-shortened series with Air Force with two shutouts, 6-0 and 19-0. The Ute pitching staff hasn't allowed a run in 20 innings, dating back to the seventh inning of the March 25th game in Orem.

Utah's bats have also been hot of late as well as the Utes are hitting a Mountain West best .334 with eight players hitting .300 or higher led by Jesse Shriner (.422) and Cody Guymon (.411).

The Wolverines will play six times next week beginning Monday at 7pm at home against another in-state rival, Southern Utah. The teams will also play Tuesday at 5pm. Utah Valley will travel to Reno to play four with Nevada beginning Friday, April 11th followed by a doubleheader Saturday and a single game on Sunday.