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Show Bats bust out during Wolverines' hot streak ••••••■ By ALEX RIVERA Sports Writer ti PHOTO BY LANCE LARSEN/UVU REVIEW Kai Hatch checks the flight of his ball while battting against Southern Utah on Thursday, March 29. The Utah Valley Wolverines are streaking! In a good way, at least. The Wolverines had won three in a row and four of their last five games after Thursday's win over Southern Utah. In the last three games, they have batted in 40 runs, averaging just over 13 runs a game. In the past five games, they're still averaging over nine runs a game. And it all started when they came back home to Brent Brown Ballpark. The Wolverines started their home stretch against the Sacramento State Hornets, who spoiled their home opener with 13 runs, 11 of them coming in the first three innings before taking the 13-3 victory. UVU answered right back in the second game with 10 runs of their own, starting their offensive outburst. Jeremy Gendlek started that game and gave up six runs over five innings to hold off the Hornets. The rubber match of the three-game set was all UVU's Austin Heaps as he hit a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning and ended the day tying the school record with six RBIs. Southern Utah University came in with vengeance on their mind, looking to erase from their memory UVU coming into Cedar City and taking all three games. But the Wolverines' bats were too much for the Thunderbirds to handle. UVU struck for five runs in the second inning, five in the fifth, three in the sixth, and four in the seventh to defeat Southern Utah 17-7. There were a total of nine homeruns in this game with six of them coming out on UVU's side of the scoreboard. But even with numbers like that (17 runs, 15 hits, six home runs), Wolverines head coach Eric Madsen still sees room for improvement. "I still feel like we threw away some at-bats during Football gets back to winning ways By SAM HANCOCK Sports Writer It only took a few plays for the defense of the UVU football team to shake off the rust of a week-long break and a stinging loss, doing what it does best in their 13-0 win over the PG Spartans. The defense has been a strong asset of this team from the beginning. In the first game of the season they held their opponent to negative yards and forced multiple turnovers. However, in the last game the defense seemed to show a glaring weakness by struggling with a mobile quarterback, speed to the outside and a lackadaisical attitude. They were unable to force signature three-and-outs or turnovers that the team had grown accustomed to. MCPHERSON from B2 I think," McPherson said. Flush with the knowledge that he was good at something, McPherson took it as far as he could through high school. He was nearly exclusively a high jumper despite his sixth-grade revelation in the long jump. For the time being, this was about having fun and being pretty good at something at the same time. "Before, we used to get the high jump mats out and we'd sun-tan on them," McPherson said. "There was a spring board, so we'd see who could do a front flip the highest. It was so ridiculous." *** Hands still twitching and shaking, McPherson moves his right leg in front him, slowly mimicking a running stride. Then he moves it behind him He repeats the motion twice more. The quad muscles are clearly defined, the result of months of training with the UVU coaching staff, many of them having run in their prime for BYU. By this point, McPherson has already forgotten what assistant coach Adamson told him the previous time. If it's the the 110-meter hurdles, it's "bring your trail leg over." If it's any event involving any running — and all of McPherson's do — it's "fix your arms." "I can't tell you how many times I've heard those two things," he said. Both are out of his mind now. It's about the routine, the perfect start to his run. *** McPherson's parents played sports in high school, In the onset of the game it looked like it was going to be the same story, as the Spartans were able to make big gains with a speedy back and running the quarterback. It looked as if the Spartans were going to score on their first drive until Jason Nua made a huge sack, taking them out of scoring range. Nua's play seemed to bring the fire back to this side of the ball that was lacking before, and then the defensive romp was on, "I was able to get free and put pressure on the quarterback, caught his jersey. It was game over from there," Nua said. The UVU defense was stout all afternoon. They played with discipline by filling holes with their linebackers, and not allowing the Spartans get to the outside. The secondhis father hitting up the baseball diamond, his mother the track. Neither played beyond the prep level, leaving little evidence that their son would someday sport NCAA-level athleticism. He certainly didn't look the part. The 5-foot-11 Colorado native was a skinny afterthought compared to the more prominent football and basketball players he went to school with. "To this day I get crap [about being skinny] ," McPherson said. "We do the shot put in the decathlon and I'm just so bad. It's sad. Everybody, girls, coaches, you name it." Even as others found it hard to take him seriously, he started taking track more seriously. His junior year saw him qualify for the state championships in the high jump, lumping him in with the rest of Colorado's best. After day one, it dawned on McPherson that he wasn't nearly as outclassed as he thought he'd be. "Just going to state and being around really good athletes, I was like, 'I can hang with these guys," he said. "'I should just start taking it more serious and seeing what I can do." The mental change preceded the physical. McPherson stopped relying on his gangly athleticism. He started weight lifting, training daily. He changed his diet, his sleeping patterns. "It became not just 'that practice," McPherson said. "It became everything." *** McPherson takes off, his shoes eating up the orange ary played lock down on their receivers including a big interception from Kenny Jones that stalled another drive. The defense will likely carry the team through the season. While the offense has shown flashes of productivity it has been too inconsistent to show that it is going to go out and win games as they found out a few weeks ago. It may be unfair to put this much pressure on the defense, but until the offense can find their footing the defense is going to need to play like this every week if they want to win their conference. The biggest challenge that they may have to face is playing with intensity. With the sub-par talent in the league it has been easy for the defense to lose their edge at times and it has cost them. This week it was a good sign to see the competitive fire come out. There were several hard hits delivered and playing hard until the play was dead, which lead to a lot of small skirmishes on the field. Although fighting can show the ugly side of sports, it was a sign that the team was all in. Moving forward it is hard to see whether or not they will revert back to being complacent in their attitudes, or maintain the urgency they exhibited this week. Even after putting up a zero on the scoreboard the defense is still looking for ways to improve. "We have so much room to improve," said middle linebacker Jake Jensen. "Mainly just playing our best for the whole game. If we play our game we will be putting people down and keeping them there." track surface, his arms undercutting the air in front of him with each stride. The "UVU" on the chest of his jersey flaps wildly from the combination of wind and motion. As far as motivation is concnerned, those initials are a right up there with PR (personal record). McPherson knows UVU isn't supposed to finish first, not when BYU, Utah, and the like are on the same field. To him, that's a perk, not a punishment. "I think part of the funnest ing for his attention. Bigger schools didn't come knocking. McPherson had been named All-State in Colorado and All-American Decathalon, but he still wasn't considered a first-tier prospect. Still, McPherson had enough collegiate attention to deal with, and he used every day he could to sort it out. By the NCAA signing deadline, he still hadn't made up his mind. "It was such a hard decision to me," he said. "I took till the very last minute to decide." The morning of the deadline, McPherson walked down the stairs, still not sure of where to go. It wasn't until he put pen to paper that he made his choice. "That morning I remember coming downstairs and I was like, 'well, I think I'm doing it," McPherson said. "'I'm just going to go to UVU.' I just signed it and I went to school that day." The pick was a bold one. UVU had just barely secured fully accredited NCAA status. Their home track and field weren't completed. Yet it wasn't the prestige or the arena (or lack thereof) that caught McPherson's attention. Looking back, McPherson says it was UVU's unreserved faith in him that made him commit to a leap of faith in return. "UVU made the best offer to me, as far as scholarship goes," McPherson said. "I was a pretty unknown athlete. They took a gamble on me. I did decent in high school, but I wasn't going to be a standout or anything. [Track] became not just 'that practice.' It became everything. — Michael McPherson If thing about being at UVU, being an athlete here, is when you beat the big dogs, `cause they're like, 'what the heck?' McPherson said. "Especially when you're taking down BYU. That's always a good feeling." *** Utah Valley was just one of several options on McPherson's table. Utah State, New Mexico, Colorado State, among others, were also vy- the middle of that game," Madsen said. "I thought we should've scored 34 [runs]. I think we had a lot more runs in us during that game. They swung the bat good but we're just striving for the process. It doesn't matter if we scored three or if we scored 30 as long as they're staying with the process." The coach seems to be on to something. They are stranding on average over seven runners on base a game this season and are only batting a .285 as a team. But for the Coach, it is all about consistency. "There's a little better consistency," Madsen said. "I think we've had a good club all year. I think we're doing a more consistent job at the plate. Obviously I want to see us be perfect all the time but I just feel like our guys are bearing down a little more and trying do things the right way." Utah Valley now turns their attention to a team that defeated them earlier in the season, nationally ranked Ari- MADSEN from B1 ion. Thursday night was no exception as six different players left the yard, setting a school record. "I'm proud of the work they have put in," Madsen said. "As a coach I felt like we should have scored 34 runs, but I'm ok with their effort and how things turned out." "Obviously I wanna see us be perfect all the time but our guys are bearing down and are trying to do things the right way." Madsen's soft-spoken way of describing the situation is both informative and disarming at the same time. His knack for dissecting game info makes what appear to be glaring deficiencies only a small blip on the radar and easily correctable. In an unstable and rocky start to the 2012 season, Madsen's brand of optimistball may just be paying off. Sticking with his guys and having trust in them is what has been the trademark of They risked a lot on me, I think." *** As best he can without over-thinking it, McPherson toes the board and takes off. The hardest part for long jumpers is to throw their entire body into the jump, to disregard comfort and convention in favor of form and function. McPherson does so, his once-twitching fingers nearly touching his toes as he sails through the air. As often as not, his mother is there, watching. McPherson says her passion for her son's success is "unreal." She exhibits it through conventional, motherly ways. "She's always lecturing me about how I need to eat right and sleep right," McPherson said. "She's crazy about it." Then there are her train rides from Colorado to Chicago just to see her son perform a few seconds' worth of athletic ability. Why the train? She's afraid to fly. So she takes to the tracks. Even if it's only to see her son fly in the air instead. *** McPherson knows he's logging a lot of firsts at Utah Valley. He's just not sure how long they'll last. "It's cool seeing your name up on the record board," he said. "You just kind of cross your fingers that it stays for a little while. I'm always thinking, 'man somebody's going to come and just obliterate this.' I'm always trying to make it a little bit better." The 22-year-old holds the school records in the long jump (24 feet, 4.5 in.), indoor heptathlon (5,112 points) and the indoor 4x400 meter zona. Even though the Wolverines were defeated by the then ranked No. 8 Wildcats, there is a clear confidence in the clubhouse because of the lead they took early on in that game. "Our guys felt like we gave the game away to Arizona," Madsen said. "We had a good lead on them. We just kind of went away from it. There's a lot of excitement. That's a big opportunity for us to really improve in the national scene so our guys are jazzed up for it." After facing nationally ranked Arizona, Utah Valley will welcome in North Dakota for a three-game set before hitting the road again. NEXT UP... Against: Arizona When: Wed / Apr 4 / 6 pm Where: Brent Brown Ballpark this year's club as they have now picked up three consecutive wins and four of their last five. How do you spin an ERA nearing 6.00, 41 extra-base hits, 14 home runs and 60 walks? Madsen's answer won't surprise anyone and just might convince everyone that's all behind them. "Our pitchers have done a really good job at keeping us in games," Madsen said. "Just like our batters they tend to get greedy and that's when mistakes happen. But I like where we're at." Putting his response through the truth machine would sound something more like this: "Our pitchers haven't sucked bad enough to lose the game for us. They don't follow the game plan and reach at times to make a bigger play than we need which comes back to bite us. Things could be a lot worse." Madsen would never say that and never should. But wouldn't that be a little more fun for the casual fan? relay (3:17.19). He beat out every BYU athlete in the heptathlon at this year's Air Force Invitational, taking third overall. Yet despite all his accomplishments in less than two seasons, McPherson still feels his appearance saves him undue attention. "Sometimes I feel it still doesn't [dawn on people]," he said. "I'm just another skinny kid. I don't think anybody really knows. It's fun in a way. I know and that's good enough." *** As heels meet sand, McPherson tries to complete the jump, eke out as clean a landing as possible in order to not lose precious inches. Once he knows that's done, it's safe for him to turn around, to hear or see the result, see the fruits of a few seconds of furious effort. "I think the best part of track is after you've done an event and you do better than you've ever done in it before," McPherson said. "When you get a PR. Just that feeling, it's so good." It's a moment he considers as personal as the initials PR indicate. No longer is he competing for the heck of it, or because a teacher asked him, or to gain what little popularity that can be had. Track has become McPherson's passion, tempered with purpose. "When I first decided [to come to UVU] my love for track was pretty young," McPherson said. "It's just grown ever since then. Now it's the best thing in the world." Twitchy hands included. |