The move to start Jason Price for Tuesday night’s game against UVSC by U coach Bill Kinneberg didn’t work too well.
Price was only supposed to go a few innings, but didn’t even last one, as he gave up five runs and was taken out in the middle of the first.
Even with the bad start, the Ute hitting kept chipping away at the lead and the Utes came back to win the game in extra innings 7-6.
With a 5-1 advantage after the first inning, the Wolverines seemed to have the inside track to win the ball game.
In the third inning, however, the Utes scored three runs, including a two-run homerun by Ryan Khoury.
The Ute relievers also played well and kept the Wolverines at bay.
Reliever Josh Madsen did not let UVSC extend the lead in his 2.1 innings of work.
Following Madsen, Brian Hedman came in and allowed a run in the bottom half of the fourth inning and the Utes were down 6-4.
Both pitching staffs did a good job of keeping the opponent off the scoreboard, until the seventh inning.
With runners on second and third and two outs, Jay Brossman hit a pitch up the middle to drive in both runs, which tied the game at six.
Neither team scored in the final two innings, and the game headed to the extras.
In the top half of the tenth, Brossman led off the inning with a single and Doug Beck followed Brossman with another single.
With runners on first and second, Clayne Garrett hit into a double play and Brossman moved to third. Ben Mozeleski then hit the go-ahead run, which scored Brossman from third.
Ute closer Brian Lane only allowed one hit in the bottom half of the inning and clinched the victory for the Utes.
Lane earned the victory and is now 5-3 on the year, while Jed Jensen got the loss. The Utes will now head south to Albuquerque to face New Mexico in a three-game series over the weekend.