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Show orts The College Times MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2008 Road trips not for the faint of heart Moore's law broken Ben Webster Spoil:, ecittof With many teams, in many sports, something happens on the road. Great teams seem to know how to overcome it, but for many teams hitting the road is a struggle. It has been this way for the baseball team. After beginning the season playing 21 games away from home, the baseball team finally played a game at home. The long road before playing at home started in California and ended in Washington before the Wolverines played host to Utah and lost in their first home game. It's the kind of road trip that puts a team in a hole from the beginning. It's what happened with the Wolverines as they started the year 4-16-1. Unfortunately, the team •will have to get used to the travel if they want to succeed. The problem doesn't get any better the rest of the season. If you blink you will miss ever)' home game-there's only 11. The other 44 games are on the road- meaning only a fifth of the schedule is played here at home. That's a shame with the beautiful stadium sitting on the southwest corner of campus-at least the Orern Owlz make good use of it in the summer. It's comparable to the Utah Jazz playing 16 home games compared to 66 games on the road or a Major League Baseball team playing 130 road games with 32 See COLUMN- B8 Utahfinallychases UVSC ace in comefrom-behind win Jason Adkins Sports writer Marcus Moore's luck could only last so long against Utah. The righty with a devastating slider asserted himself as.the Wolverines' ace in three wins against the Utes last year. This year was a different story as Utah handled an early offensive effort by Utah Valley as a mid-inning surge gave it a 12-6 win Tuesday night. The Wolverines (4-17-1) had to endure 21 straight road games at the start of the year before finally getting to enjoy their home park. But Utah (8-12) spoiled the festivities by showcasing an offense that had been lacking as it tallied a seasonhigh 20 hits. Moore (2-4) gave up two runs through four innings before a four-run fifth gave Utah the lead for good. Cody Guymon's RBI single started the scoring. From there it was Utah Valley's inability to get the third out that caused the damage. Austin Jones hit a double to center that scored two. Jones would then get to third on a throwing error by Wolverines shortstop Jake Richenback. Cooper Blanc finished the rally with a single that brought Jones in and put Utah up 6-4. All of it came with Moore still on the mound. Moore ended up pitching 5 2/3 innings, allowing 12 hits and six earned runs. This gave Utah's Bryn Card (1-1) the win despite two innings of mid-inning relief. Utah Valley took an early lead with three runs in the Ken HtKjIund / Colleij* Times (Above) Kai Hatch's attempt to make a diving catch against the Utes didn't go^as planned, neither did the team's home opener as they lost to Utah. (Below) Freshman Jake Rickenbach tries to make a play against Utah in the baseball team's home opener. first and added another in the second to take a 4-1 lead. Scott Croshaw scored on a fielder's choice, Ryan Jones on a wild pitch, and Adam Openshaw from a Kevin Arendse single, all unearned as a couple of wild pitches and an error let runners on base and then advance with two outs. Utah opened the game with a quick run. Shimada led off on an error by Ryan Jones. Guymon hit an RBI double to left that brought Shimada in from second. Shimada homered in the sixth and Tyler Relf had an RBI double in the seventh for two insurance runs. It turned out those runs weren't just window dressing, as the Wolverines Utah Flash scored two in the bottom of the frame off of fCcvin Arendse, two-RBI single to get within two runs. The Utes added one in the eighth and three in the ninth for the final blowv Utah's other run came in the fourth when Blanc bunted a runner in from third that cut Utah Valey's-lead to 4-2. vs. Colorado 14ers ; .rv Flash pick up after fivegame losing streak Tony Gunderson Spoils ',*.•(ittii There are five seconds to go in the first half of what has been a war to keep the lead. A tired Flash team passes the ball to Hamilton... 4 seconds... A couple quick dribbles and the ball is in Gabe Pruitt's hands... 3 seconds. Pruitt steps up to the half court line... 2 seconds... and floats the basketball into the air. Then, silence. I second... A wild audience scream fills the McKay Events Center and the flash pull ahead by nine. Ken Hcglund / College Ti Outfielder Abby Bowcutt makes a diving catch but the Wolverines attempts to stop Utah State weren't as successful as they were swept by the Aggies in a doubleheader. Aggies sweep in double header Matt Beaudin Assistant sports editor The bad became, worse for the Wolverines last week as they dropped both games of a doubleheader at home to the Aggies of Utah State. Utah Valley pitchers Heidi Stocks and Alii Bramwell surrendered six homeruns on the day as the Wolver- ines fell 11-2 in,game one and 8-2 in game two. As softballs were flying over the heads of the Utah Valley outfielders,' coach Todd Fairbourne disgust- edly watched as his team dropped to 5-19. "They didn't.have their best stuff, but my pitchers battled," he See SOFTBALL • BS A total of 34 turnovers and an incredible offensive set for Colorado I4ers .forward Kaniel Dickens, who scored 21 points in less than two quarters, kept the Utah Flash on their toes. However, the fortunate Flash ended their five-game losing streak with a 108-99 win against the 14ers. Aside from an almost expected solid game from T Morris Almond who netted 33 points, Pruitt has been the talk of the team since he was reassigned to play from the Boston Celtics to the Utah Flash nearly a month ago. Pruitt added some much needed spice to a game that was practically missing'centers Fesenko and Lanjrwho put 11 points on the board between the both of them. "We didn't have it $own low today," Pruitt saidj'but I thought the guys on the perimeter and those iCguys on the bench gave us a^ush and more energy... arfd we all just built off of that:^ Earlier on game ia day coach Brad Jones challenged his team to clo a shoot-around to, in order to get mentally focused for the game which would prove vital on whether or n0T the Flash get a shot in the playoffs. ": "It was a big win jjpr us tonight," Jones said, o "but SeeFLAiH- B8 |