Box score
OREM, UT—First-place Utah Valley opened its four-game Great West Conference baseball series against visiting NJIT with a 13-3 win over the Highlanders Friday night at the Brent Brown Ballpark on Utah Valley's campus.
The Wolverines, who won their 30th game overall (30-17) and are 19-2 in Great West play, did not take the lead until a four-run fourth inning. But once they broke on top they kept adding on and pulled away with five runs in the sixth inning, two in the seventh and one in the eighth.
NJIT, now 7-13 in the Great West, scored first with a run in the top of the second inning, but the Wolverines got a run of their own in the second inning. The score stayed at 1-1 for another inning-and-a-half, but the Highlanders managed just single runs in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, while UVU was piling up 12 more runs.
The winning pitcher for the Wolverines was Justin Campbell (5-0), who started and pitched the first six innings, allowing a lone run on seven hits. Two relievers allowed a run each.
Junior Bobby Wyrwa started and took the loss for NJIT. He pitched 5.2 innings and was tagged with 11 hits and 10 runs (9 earned), as his record dipped to 2-7.
Wyrwa, who held the explosive Wolverines to one run in the first three innings, allowed the four runs in the fourth inning, but bounced back with a scoreless fifth inning. He ran into big trouble in the sixth inning, issuing all four of his walks for the game and allowing two runs before departing with the bases loaded and two out. The first batter faced by the bullpen, Chris Benson, tripled to add three runs to the lead and inflate Wyrwa's final stat line before the third out.
NJIT's three relievers allowed three more runs on top of the three inherited runners who scored on the Benson triple in the sixth inning.
The Highlanders, who finished with nine hits, got three of them from sophomore RF Jeffrey Pizzi, who was 3-for-4, with a pair of runs batted in. C Bryan Bleakley was 2-for-4, as well.
The only extra-base hit for NJIT was a double by CF James D'Aloia leading off the third inning. The next batter, Matt Petrone, singled, but they did not score and were among the 12 runners left on base by the Highlanders (UVU had just three left on base).
Utah Valley, with 14 total hits, including four doubles, two triples, and a home run, had five players with multiple-hit games. Four of them posted two-hit games, while Benson, the center fielder, was 4-for-5, with two triples and three runs batted in.
Kevin Arendse, who walked three times, had only one hit, but it was his fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot that was part of the four-run fourth inning for the Wolverines.
NJIT's first run came in the second inning, when Bleakley and Matt Tomczyk singled ahead of Pizzi's two-out single up the middle that brought Bleakley home.
Benson evened the score for UVU when he led off the bottom of the second inning with what was scored a triple, plus a throwing error on a ball hit into the right center field gap.
He also figured in the go-ahead run in the fourth inning, singling with one out, stealing second, and scoring on a single by Goose Kallunki. Arendse then hit his two-run homer and the fourth run of the frame scored on a wild pitch.
Leading, 5-1, the Wolverines doubled their score with the five-run sixth inning that included an RBI double for Jason Zundel, a bases-loaded walk, and then the three-run triple by Benson.
NJIT's second run was the product of two walks and then another two-out single by Pizzi. And the ninth-inning run came after pinch hitter Anthony Caiola walked with one out and later scored on another two-out hit, this one by Marc Prager.
The same two teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 pm (MDT).
