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BATON ROUGE, La. — Utah Valley’s first entry into the NCAA baseball tournament came to an end after several weather delays and a hot inning by Southeastern Louisiana.
The Lions did all of their scoring in the first inning to hold on for a 3-2 win over the Wolverines in an elimination game Sunday at Alex Box Stadium at Louisiana State.
Brennan Breaud scored from third on a wild pitch to give the visiting Lions (40-20) a 3-0 a advantage, and Domenick Carlini pitched a two-hitter with one earned run and four strikeouts through six innings to clinch the win for Southeastern Louisiana.
Utah Valley (37-23) tried to come back twice in the middle of the game, scoring a run apiece in the third and fourth inning before falling short. The Wolverines pushed Trevor Howell in on a fielding error in the third, then Spencer Gothberg added a solo shot over the left field fence in the fourth inning to pace the Wolverines’ comeback attempt.
But the Lions responded with a pitching change, and Josh Green spun a one-hitter in the final three innings to earn the save.
Jackson Cofer gave up just four hits in the hard-luck loss for Utah Valley, scattering five strikeouts and just two walks in 7.1 innings.
Utah Valley ends its season with a best-ever mark since the program made the jump to Division I in 2003. The Wolverines’ 37 wins is second only to the 2012 team’s 47 victory tally, a squad that was left out of the NCAA Tournament because they played in the non-automatic qualifying Great West Conference.
This year, Utah Valley won the Western Athletic Conference Tournament title with a four wins in four nights to secure the conference’s autobid, drawing its first-ever berth in the regional hosted by No. 8 Louisiana State.
A four-seed in Baton Rouge, the Wolverines lost 7-1 to the hosts in the opening game before its second game was delayed Saturday by severe weather across the state of Louisiana. Southeastern Louisiana advanced to face LSU on Sunday evening.
