BASEBALL'S WIN STREAK SNAPPED AT FIVE WITH LOSS AT UTAH VALLEY

3/23/2012

First baseman Clay Cederquist went 3-for-5 with his first home run of the season on Friday.

OREM, Utah - The Sacramento State baseball team entered Friday night’s game at Utah Valley with a five-game winning streak, but the Wolverines used a seven-run fourth inning to snap it and defeated the Hornets, 10-6, on Friday night at Brent Brown Ballpark.

The Hornets (12-12) tallied six runs on 13 hits with one error while the Wolverines had 10 runs on 12 hits and one error.

Sacramento State was up, 3-1, heading into the bottom of the fourth when the wheels came off. The Wolverines tallied seven runs on five hits and an error in the fourth to go up 8-2. The Hornets rallied some, cutting Utah Valley’s lead to only two at 8-6 in the sixth inning, but the Wolverines tacked on two more runs in the eighth to kill the comeback.

Sacramento State’s pitching staff gave up just 10 runs over its five-game winning streak but were tagged for 11 on Friday. Freshman Ty Nichols (0-3) took the loss after allowing six runs on five hits and five walks in 3.1 innings. Sacramento State relievers combined to surrender four more runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings.

The Hornets’ offense, however, continued its torrid pace, as seven of the nine players in the lineup had at least one hit.

Freshman designated hitter Rhys Hoskins and junior first baseman Clay Cederquist each went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs while senior catcher Derrick Chung and junior second baseman Andrew Ayers each had two hits. Sophomore right fielder David Del Grande extended his hitting streak to a team-high nine games with a single in the third inning. Hoskins has a seven-game hit streak going.

Utah Valley starter Jeremy Gendlek (3-3) earned the win despite allowing six runs on nine hits in five innings. Relievers Taylor Mangum and Josh Swenson were sharp and did not allow a run on four hits in four innings.

The Wolverines were led offensively by shortstop Kai Hatch, who went 3-for-4 with three RBIs while four other Utah Valley players also had at least two hits.

Sacramento State and Utah Valley will meet at 11 a.m. PT tomorrow for the rubber match of the series.

Utah Valley 10, Sacramento State 6 (Mar 23, 2012 at Orem, Utah)
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Sacramento State.... 021 021 000 - 6 13 1 (12-12)
Utah Valley.........       010 700 02X - 10 12 1 (8-11)
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Pitchers: Sacramento State - Nichols, Ty; Creel, Brandon(4); Hoelzen, Tyler(7); Kopas, Daniel(8)
and Chung, Derrick. Utah Valley - GENDLEK, Jeremy; MANGUM, Taylor(6); SWENSON, Josh(9) and
BERG, Taylor.
Win-GENDLEK, Jeremy(3-3) Loss-Nichols, Ty(0-3) T-3:01 A-577
HR SAC - Hoskins, Rhys (5); Cederquist, Clay (1).
Weather: Cloudy, 65 - Lt. Wind
GENDLEK, J faced 2 batters in the 6th.
Hoelzen, T. faced 2 batters in the 8th.
Game: 24UVU12