Box score

OREM, UT—Utah Valley dominated in extending the longest active winning streak in Division I baseball to 20 consecutive games with a 14-0 seven-inning win over visiting NJIT in the opener of a four-game Great West Conference series Thursday night at UVU's Brent Brown Ballpark.
 
The Wolverines, who have won double titles (regular season and postseason) in each of the first two Great West seasons in 2010 and 2011, are now 13-0 in the Great West this season and 27-11 overall. NJIT, which had won 12 of its previous 15 games overall and came in as the second-place team in the Great West, drops to 9-4 in conference play and 17-16 overall.
 
Utah Valley, which sports the top team batting average in Division I (.346), unleashed a 16-hit night on Thursday in a game shortened to seven innings by the Great West's 10-run rule, which halts games if one team leads by at least 10 runs and the trailing team has completed seven innings worth of at-bats.
 
UVU, which last lost on March 22 (13-3 vs. Sacramento State), has reached double-figure scoring in 15 of the 20 games in its winning streak. The last three have been run-rule games, two against Texas-Pan American, which entered its series against the Wolverines tied for first place in the conference, and now against NJIT, which took over second place when Utah Valley swept Texas-Pan American. Also included in Utah Valley's winning streak was a 5-4 victory on April 4 against Arizona, ranked fourth in the nation at the time.
 
On top of the 14-run, 16-hit attack, Utah Valley got a combined one-hitter from three pitchers Thursday. The starter, junior right-hander Adam Gunn (7-3) pitched the first five innings, allowing NJIT's one hit (a single by RF DJ Roche leading off the second inning) while walking one and striking out four. He now has thrown 24.1 consecutive scoreless innings and hasn't surrendered a run since March 31. Relievers Craig Bramhall and Justin Campbell, each retired the Highlanders in order over the last two innings. The one-hitter was the second in UVU program history.
 
Utah Valley scored one run on two hits in the first inning against NJIT starter Mark Leiter, Jr. (4-5), who set down the Wolverines 1-2-3 in the second. However, Utah Valley used six hits, a walk and two Highlander errors to put six men across the plate in the third inning against Leiter, who later got the first two outs in the fourth inning before allowing a hit and then being victimized by NJIT's third error of the night.
 
Jake Porcello came on to end that threat with a strikeout, but he allowed three runs in the fifth inning and four more in the sixth, finishing with seven runs on seven hits, two walks and three strikeouts in 2.1 innings. Leiter was charged with nine hits and seven runs (three earned), with three walks and two strikeouts in 3.2 innings.
 
The final hitting totals showed Utah Valley with three doubles, a triple, and a home run among its 16 hits. Everyone in the starting batting order for the Wolverines got at least one hit, topped by leadoff man Jake Rickenbach, the senior third baseman, who was all-GWC shortstop in 2011 and went 3-for-3, including a double and scored four times in the opener vs. NJIT. Five Wolverines collected two hits apiece, including senior 1B Goose Kalunki and junior 2B Willie Pratt, each of whom drove in three runs.
 
Pratt's two hits were a run-scoring triple in the six-run third inning and a two-run homer, his first of the season, in the four-run sixth inning. Kalunki, who received three national playing honors for his performance in last week's sweep of Texas-Pan American, drove in the first run of the game with a single in the first inning, drove in another on a sacrifice fly in the third, and yet another on a single in the sixth.
 
Rickenbach opened the bottom of the first inning with a double, extending his hitting streak to 21 games, and later scored on Kallunki's two-out single.
 
UVU took complete control in the third inning, as it sent 13 batters to the plate and got six hits on its way to scoring six runs in the frame. Rickenbach again started things with a leadoff single and junior LF Sean Moysh (2-for-2, 3 runs) followed with a double. NJIT's first error of the inning let in a run with no one out, before a single back to the box loaded the bases for Kallunki, who knocked in the second run of the frame with his sacrifice fly. A subsequent line out should have been the third out, but instead, it was the second out and the Wolverines would pour on four two-out runs, all unearned.
 
The Wolverines piled on three more runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth, including Pratt's two-run homer over the right field wall.
 
NJIT's hit, the leadoff single by Roche in the second, stayed on the infield, as Pratt knocked the ball down with a dive to his left, but the Highlander junior beat the throw to first base. The Highlanders made their share of contact, putting 17 of their 21 outs in play, but only four of the outs escaped the infield. Aside from the Roche hit, the only NJIT baserunner came on a two-out walk to SS Matt Weckerle in the top of the fourth inning.
 
The teams are slated for a doubleheader Friday night, with first pitch slated for 4 pm (Mountain). The first game is scheduled for seven innings, with the nightcap scheduled for nine innings.