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Show A10 - MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2008 SPORTS; BRIEFS Sports • THE COLLEGE TIMES UV sophomore learning to lead •" - I ; ATHLETICS 5K RUN A successful community service project was culminated at the Wolverine Awards earlier this week when the Utah Valley Student Athlete Advisory Committee presented a check for over $6,300 to Kids on the Move director Stuart Collyer. The Green Fever 5k Run was held March 29. Over 400 participants either ran or walked the course while over 200 people volunteered. Fans are encouraged to look for their'race photo. Feel free to download the more than 350 high-resolution photos available for download at visit http://www,spinlocal. com/seen/4. WOLVERINE AWARDS The athletic department and Wolverine Club inducted two new members to the Utah Valley Hall of Fame and handed out yearly awards last week. Standouts Randy Wilstead (baseball) and Lindsey Hodgen (softball) were honored prior to the awards ceremony. Robyn Fairbanks, who garnered AP All-America Honorable Mention honors, was named the Female Athlete of the Year while Ryan Toolson, whofinishedthe year eighth in the nation in scoring, picked up Male Athlete of the Year accolades along with Play of the Year for his performance against Southern Utah. Benjamin Kjar was a big winner as he took home a pair of awards. Overall; the wrestling team took home four of the seven individual awards. Volleyball coach Sam Atoa was named the Coach of the Year while senior standout volleyball player Jessica Endres took home the Female Scholar Athlete of the Year. Danny Moody won the Male Scholar Athlete of the Year while the male and female cross country teams were named teams of the year. KyleJellings sports writer True leaders possess many vital characteristics: the ability to motivate, put the team first, and lead by example. Jace Brinkerhoff is only a sophomore, but the Utah Valley baseball team looks to him for leadership. As a freshman, he hit .371 and started in 42 of the 55 games played. He was also named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman AilAmerican 1st team as a utility player. "I love being the leader," Brinkerhoff said. "The added pressure motivates me to do my best on the field." The role of leader is not a position that Brinkerhoff is unfamiliar with. At Spanish Fork High School he was named Utah 5A State MVP after leading them to the State Championship. One thing he is not used to is losing. "I've had one losing season, and it was with my basketball team in high school," Brinkerhoff stated. The Wolverines are 4-17-1 as of March 25. "1 hate losing," he said. "It's frustrating, we just need to step up and do what we Ken Hoglund/ College Times Sophomore Jace Brinkerhoff is doing what he can from the plate. He's also making a difference as a team leader. know we can do." Not only is Brinkerhoff a leader in the locker room, but on the field as well. This season he leads the team in all three major batting categories. He is batting .340 with 20 RBI's and three homeruns. "I do the best I can do to get the team a victory," He said. "Wins are the only stat that matter to me." In 2007 Brinkerhoff pitched '68.2 innings, but has only pitched in one this year due to health concerns. However, he will do anything to help his team succeed. Despite the Wolverines less than outstanding record, Brinkerhoff is still optimistic. "I feel that our record doesn't reflect our ability, and we are going to turn it around soon." Like most athletes at Utah Valley, he feels that more fan support is needed for the baseball team. However, that has not changed the fact that he enjoys going 'out on the field and playing everyday. Even though he is an outstanding ballplayer, if baseball does not work out, he has career goals in mind. Brinkerhoff is currently majoring in exercise science and either wants to go to medical school to become a pediatrician or get into physical therapy. 'Til take baseball as far as I can, but I also have other career goals in mind," Brinkerhoff said. Ky O O m H i r ;,s* 1 RONNIE PRICE from A12 As the Jazz have returned to their winning ways, Price appears to be the man for the job, solidifying his role as Williams's backup this season. "When you're winning," Price says. "It makes everything a lot better." As the playoffs near for the Jazz, Price will see his first post-season action as an NBA player. "When he's called on in certain situations," Williams said, "he'll be ready." While Price has always had confidence in himself, his teammates and coaches now know they can count on the former Wolverine. Doubleheader split with Southern Utah TonyGunderson Spofts writer A spring snowstorm forced the baseball team to play in a doubleheader versus Southern Utah last Tuesday, and both teams walked out of the ballpark with a win. After dropping the first game, the Wolverines came out with a different mindset. ' Marcus Moore, an impressive pitcher and senior from Roy, sat in the locker room after the first loss preparing himself for the next game. "I just need to look over the hitters and look over the charts," he said. "It's nice to play the same team right after, because you have seen how some of the other team's strategies, the way they play. Words definitely backed up by action, as the Wolverines out batted, out ran, and out scored the T-Birds 3-1. Moore struck out 14, which just so happened to tie his record from last April against SUU. As for the fans, there were many more smiles this time around. All but one Wolverine had a hit in the second game. "We just started to hit the ball a lot better," said Moore. "We have fallen short - but we have pulled through." It was a rough first game for the Wolverines, as disappointed fans commented that the team just wasn't up to par on their batting. The T-Birds took the game, a close 8-7. The T-Birds first baseman even hit a foul ball into the lake right at the school's front doors. Southern Utah used a five-inning third, including back-to-back home runs, to get control of the game and come up with the win. Scott Croshaw had some brawn behind the bat in both games. Croshaw hit his first home run of the season in the first game and had what might have been the hatchet play of the second game when he hit a triple. The team sits on a record of 7-20-1 but has had some surprising victories as of late. Bramwell carries softball team in doubleheader ' The College Times Alii Bramwell didn't surrender an earned run when Utah Valley pounded 17 hits and scored 12 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Idaho State last week. The Wolverines (7-22) won 8-0 in six innings and 4-3. It is only the second time this season the softball team won back-to-back games. Bramwell recorded two complete-game wins while giving up just seven hits, walking one batter and striking out 17 combined. A variety of hitters contributed to the team's lopsided game-one victory, and Heidi Stocks accounted for much of the offense in game two. "With the exception of the last inning of the second game, I'm happy with how we played in all facets of the game," Utah Valley coach Todd Fairbourne said. "Alii pitched well. We hit the ball well and played good defense for the most part." Utah Valley jumped out to an early lead in game one when the first three Wolverine batters reached base. Kylee Steadman delivered her first of two RBI in the game on a bases loaded sacrjfice fly to plate Meghan Woodworth. Jessica Anderson delivered the big blow of the first inning, a threerun deep home run to put the Wolverines up 4-0. The homer was Anderson's first in her Division I playing career. Meanwhile after ISU's Megan Miller led the game off with a hit, Bramwell didn't surrender another hit the rest of the game. The only other baserunners came on an error and a hit batter. Bramwell struck out eight in game one. The Wolverines picked up runs in the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, McGraw had an RBI single and scored on a Stocks triple. Stocks was plated on an RBI single from Steadman. In the sixth, Abby Bowcutt led the in-, ning off with an RBI double;,, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a walkoff RBI single by Magan Niemann. The Wolverines got off to a quick start in game two as well, when Woodworth led off with a single, moved to second on a bunt, and scored on a Stocks RBI single. ISU got the run back after a pair of Wolverine runs in the top of the third inning helped score Krista Armstrong, who led the inning OPPORTUNITIES from A12 minutes — knew he could make a bigger impact ~ so he kept working. As a free agent, the Kings didn't resign the exWolverine. He hit the free market. The Jazz were one of the teams Price worked out for in 2005, and they must have remembered something about Price from those workouts. He signed with the Jazz in 2007 to help Utah improve its perimeter defense and because he can play both guard positions. Opportunities continued to present themselves, and Price continued to make the most of them back in Utah. Early this season, Price was Utah's third point guard. An injury to backup Jason Hart left the door open for Price to take command of the Jazz behind Deron Williams. He hasn't disappointed since taking the backup minutes. He often gives the team the boost it needs at the defense end. The Jazz are also finding out what many around here already knew: Price isn!t bad offensively either. On a Jazz team loaded with scorers from Mehmet Okur, to Deron Williams to off with a hit. Utah Valley's big inning came in the bottom of the fourth when McGraw walked to start the inning and scored on Stocks' fourth home run of the season, a deep tworun shot to right center. Anderson nearly went yard for' the second time of the day when she doubled off the top of the fence two batters later. She later scored on an RBI single by Bowcutt, putting the Wolverines ahead 4-1. Bramwell held the Bengals off the Scoreboard until the final inning when the Wolverines' defense had trouble closing the game out. ISU scored two seventh inning runs off three Wolverine errors. Bramwell struck out her career-high-tying ninth strikeout to end the game. Ken Hoglund/ College Times Whatever catcher Kylee Steadman (left) said to pitcher Alii Bramwell seemed to have worked. RUGBY from A12 Carlos Boozer, Price isn't called on to score often, but when he is, he is more than capable. Against Toronto in March, Price scored his season high, 13 points, in 13 minutes. No matter how well he plays, it doesn't matter. He keeps working. Price knows not everyone can do what he does, but he also knows that not everyone is willing to work as hard as he does to get there. Now Price has a chance to play in the playoffs for the first time. Don't expect him to falter. Even if he does, he won't give up. to prepare to go to nationals every year when figuring out the team budget, or you could be left in the cold. "We just have to raise it, whether you go or not," Brown said. The fundraising headache is a welcome one for the team. That's due to the fact that it will be the first time the Wolverines will appear in the DII quarterfinals after sweeping a pair of matches on campus April 4 and 5. The clincher came in a 22-17 win against Santa Clara on April 5. Brown said the team had to overcome winds approaching 20 mph in coming back from a 10-point deficit. But Brown credited the opening coin toss for giving his team the advantage in the second half, despite losing the flip. 'They gave us what we wanted as far as direction and wind," Brown said. That proved to be the deciding factor, as the backs had no problem kicking deep and into touch. It seemed like Utah Valley liked to play the role of the comeback kid as it beat Cal Maritime 34-22 the afternoon before. As in the finals, the Wolverines overcame a deficit - this time going down by 17 before -storming back with 34 straight points. The comeback was complete around the 60-minute mark with the go-ahead try. Next up is East Carolina on Saturday, a team Utah Valley knows virtually nothing about. The Wolverines' brutal schedule, which includes DI powerhouses BYU and Utah, is tougher competition than most other teams have to face. "You have to look beyond the stat sheets and the tally of points," Brown said of the losses to the Cougars and Utes. "It"s about the character of the match." That being said, Brown is still trying to get as much information as he can about the Pirates in order to not take anything for granted. |