March 7, 2008

Buffalo Box Score
Iowa Box Score

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - A come-from-behind dramatic win preceded a shutout loss as Utah Valley split its first two games of the UC Riverside weekend tournament.

The Wolverines (4-10) battled back from a 5-1, early inning deficit to take a 6-5 victory over Buffalo in the early game. UV fell 6-0 in the second game to Big Ten foe, Iowa.

"I'm happy about the way we fought back to get the win against Buffalo," UV head coach Todd Fairbourne said. "We chipped away at the lead and found a way to win the game. We need to learn to play at a higher level."

Against Buffalo, UV out-hit the Bulls 10-7. Buffalo jumped to a 2-0 lead before the Wolverines scored one on a Marisa Lindgren sacrifice fly in the second. Buffalo responded with three in the top of the third to take a 5-1 advantage.

The Wolverines began to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the fourth. With the bases loaded, Heidi Stocks was hit by a pitched to pick up a RBI the painful way. Jessica Anderson drove in her first of two runs with a RBI fielders choice to cut the lead to 5-3.

UV added a run in the fifth frame on a RBI bunt single by Alli Bramwell that scored Magan Niemann. After a scoreless sixth inning, UV got a RBI single from Meghan Woodworth to tie the game 5-5 and send it to extra innings.

Bramwell struck out the first two batters she faced and forced a pop out to end Buffalo's side of the eighth. Bramwell was placed on the second in the bottom of the eighth, moved to third on a groundout to the right side and used her speed to tag and score on a sacrifice fly to shallow right on a ball the second baseman scored.

In the second game, Iowa took advantage of UV miscues throughout the game. The Hawkeyes jumped to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a pair of unearned runs.

"Natalie (Nance) pitched a good game," Fairbourne said. "She had some bad luck with some errors and mis-played balls in the field."

Nance surrendered just two earned runs in the 6-0 defeat. Iowa's pitching kept UV off balance as the Wolverines were held without a hit.

UV will return to action tomorrow when the Wolverines take on host school UC Riverside at 9 a.m. (PT)