Turbulent season for the Wolverines

OREM — The Utah Valley State baseball team experienced a turbulent season of highs and lows in its second year of Division I competition.

"I think we made some progress being our second year," said head coach Steve Gardner. "I know we didn't win a lot of games and we lost a lot of close games."

Although the Wolverines finished with a record of 17-39, 16 of the team's losses came by three runs or fewer. And in college baseball, three runs aren't that many.

Utah Valley suffered a few tough losses to teams it perhaps should have beaten. The Wolverines lost games to Southern Utah, Northern Colorado and Sacramento State.

The Wolverines, however, won games it also perhaps shouldn't have won.

"We had some great moments, and the kids played hard," Gardner said. "We did win some big instate games, and we're looking to improve more next year."

Utah Valley State won seven of 17 games against instate opponents Southern Utah, Utah and BYU, including its first ever over the Cougars and three of five over the Utes to win the season series.

Gardner looks forward to future meetings against instate opponents.

"We hope we have a good relationship with BYU and Utah, and we hope to make it competitive," he said. "I'm sure they don't like the idea of us beating them, but that's why we play the games."

The instate games are also important for an independent team that travels as much as the Wolverines do. This season, Utah Valley played several games with the Cougars and Utes in between Mountain West Conference series.

"It's important to have that rivalry," Gardner said. "For our program to be successful, we have to play well against these teams."

Utah Valley State also played and defeated several prominent Pac-10 schools such as Washington State twice and nationally ranked Arizona State, becoming the first Wolverine program to defeat a top-ranked Division I school.

Arizona State plays defending champion Cal State-Fullerton this weekend in the NCAA Super Regionals, baseball's sweet 16.

"It's a great opportunity for our kids and our program to play those types of teams and compete well," Gardner said.

The Wolverines were led by a cast of different players. Seniors Kory Drew and Trent Perry paced the offense while seniors Jed Jensen and Brady Drake led the pitching staff.