ST. GEORGE, Utah - Feb. 26 - Southern Utah baseball continued its rocky start to the 2010 season as the Thunderbirds dropped 12-6 and 13-1 decisions to the Utah Valley Wolverines on Friday night. The losses leave the T-Birds winless with an 0-7 record while Utah Valley moves to 3-3.
SUU had its first lead of the series in game one as Bucky Aona recorded his first of two RBI on the day, driving home Matt Sanford from second base with an RBI single. However, Utah Valley answered with four runs in the top of the second inning, loading the bases with no outs in the frame. Mitchell Kauweloa hit the first of three home runs on the day for the Thunderbirds in the home half of the inning, but three more runs in the top of the third by UVU brought the score to 7-2.
Aona blasted a shot over the center field fence in the third inning to trim the lead to four, 7-3 as scoring slowed over the next two innings. Utah Valley broke through with a run in the top of the sixth, making the score 8-3 before Southern Utah made a big push in the bottom of the sixth.
The Thunderbirds led off the inning with back-to-back singles, with Kauweloa's bringing home Trevor Randolph from second base following an errant throw by the Utah Valley pitcher. Brock Westphal's home run to center field capped the scoring for Southern Utah as the T-Birds drew to within two, 8-6. UVU's four runs in the top of the seventh inning produced the final score of 12-6 in the shortened, seven-inning game one.
In game two, SUU couldn't find its bats, scoring its only run in the bottom of the fifth inning by capitalizing on a Utah Valley error to score Taylor Shaw from second base. Shaw led off the inning with a single, advanced to second on a bunt and then crossed home plate as Justin Neuhart reached first on an error by UVU's shortstop.
The game was only 4-1 in the Wolverines' favor going into the top of the seventh inning, but nine late runs by Utah Valley, three in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, sealed the 13-1 victory for UVU.
Southern Utah will have its final shot of the weekend to capture a victory over Utah Valley tomorrow morning when the teams take to Bruce Hurst Field on the campus of Dixie State College at 11:00 a.m. to close out the four-game series.
