Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Arizona defeated Utah Valley 14-4, setting a program record with eight homers.
- Mason White led Arizona with three home runs and four RBIs in the game.
- Utah Valley faces Cal Poly in an elimination game, aiming for regional final.
OREM — Less than 24 hours after Utah Valley baseball's breakthrough NCAA Tournament win, the Wolverines were broken through themselves.
Mason White went 4-for-5 with three home runs, a double and four RBI, and No. 21 Arizona broke a single-game program record with eight homers to upend Utah Valley 14-4 and hand the Wolverines their first loss at the Eugene regional Saturday night at PK Park in Eugene, Oregon.
Less than 24 hours after a stunning 6-5 win over No. 12 Oregon, Utah Valley was shell-shocked and flat-footed as the Wildcats pounded out 19 hits, including 14 extra-base hits, while breaking the game open with a six-run seventh inning.
"I just love the postseason," said White, who has 19 home runs and 70 RBI on the year for the Wildcats. "I love the pressure, and I love the competition we face every night. It's a new season, and I love it."
Dominic Longo II went 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Mason Strong added an RBI with one of the Wolverines' five hits.
Maybe the team had trouble resetting after Friday night's emotional win. But Utah Valley coach Nate Rasmussen, who told the ESPN broadcast crew during an in-game interview that he received well over 300 congratulatory text messages overnight, didn't believe so.
"I thought we came out of the gates pretty good," said Rasmussen, the Utah native who signed a contract extension through 2029 on Thursday. "II mean, obviously we give up a two-run homer in the first and then we go and score two runs. And so, i thought we reset really good.
"And then their guy kind of settled in, and then the reliever (Casey) Hintz came in, and he was just dominant against us. And so I think it's easy to be like, oh, we didn't reset. When it's harder to be like, yeah, that pitcher threw really good, and he commanded both sides of the plate and he made us uncomfortable."
The ninth homer hat trick in Arizona Baseball history! 😱 pic.twitter.com/bpSLERFTtY
— Arizona Baseball (@ArizonaBaseball) June 1, 2025
Whatever it was, Saturday night brought the Wolverines back down to earth against the Big 12 tournament champions who won a seventh consecutive game.
Utah Valley (33-28) will face Cal Poly in an elimination game Sunday at PK Park (4 p.m. MDT, ESPN+). The winner of the Wolverines and Mustangs, who eliminated Oregon with a 10-8 win earlier Saturday, will advance to face Arizona in the regional final Sunday night.
If the Wildcats lose, a winner-take-all regional final will be played Monday in Eugene with a berth in the Super Regionals on the line.
White hit two homers in the first three innings for Arizona (41-18), which swung for the fences and reached them eight times — and even a few more that didn't count.
Fifth-year senior Nate Bach — who moved to center field following a hamstring injury to Jimmy De Anda — robbed another home run with an acrobatic catch over the fence that put him in instant contention for #SCTop10 honors on ESPN's SportsCenter.
But there were other opportunities as Arizona chased Utah Valley starter Colton Kennedy for seven hits, six earned runs, six extra-base hits and four homers in 3 â…“ innings, including a home run by Brenden Summerhill during a two-run fourth that stretched the Wildcats' lead to 6-2.
Seriously, @SportsCenter ... Give Nate Bach his #SCTop10 spot. Sheesh. pic.twitter.com/otb0Wi2fZo
— Sean Walker (@ActuallyDSW) June 1, 2025
White smacked a third dinger with a solo shot over the center-field fence, and the 21st-ranked Wildcats took a 7-2 lead on three solo homers in the fourth inning.
"He has put it together in the conference tournament, late in the season, and obviously today it's been pretty good, I guess, right?," Arizona coach Chip Hale said of White during an in-game interview. "He's a talented player, a good infielder, and he's just going to get better.
"I think he's going to be a bright star in pro ball, too."
CJ Colyer and DJ Massey pulled back a pair in the fourth for Utah Valley. But Aaron Walton and Adonys Guzman each went yard during a six-run seventh to help the Wildcats pull away for good.
Garen Caulfield broke the Wildcats' program record for most home runs in a single game with a solo shot in the top of the eighth inning, and Casey Hintz and Michael Hilker Jr. combined on a one-hitter with nine strikeouts in six innings of relief to get the winner and save, respectively.
"I think we're a good ball club," Longo said. "I think we just got to believe it and go out there with nothing to lose and go compete."
