OREM, Utah – Chicago State baseball kicked off a four-game Great West Conference series here this evening against conference-leading Utah Valley at Brent Brown Ballpark, but the Wolverines posted a 10-0 win in seven innings. The Wolverines improved to 13-17 (5-0) with the win and the Cougars fell to 4-25 (0-6).
The home team opened the game with a 1-0 lead after the first inning when Billy Burgess lined an RBI single off CSU starting pitcher Steven O'Hair (Scottsdale, AZ/GateWay CC) (Phoenix, Ariz.) to right center that brought home Kirk Doxey from second base, who led off the inning with a double to left center.
Doxey recorded a two-out RBI single in the second inning which plated Jason Zundel from second to increase UVU's leading margin to 2-0. Zundel reached base on a single and advanced to second on a CSU fielding error on the previous play.
In the third inning, the Wolverines added four runs behind RBI hits from Alex Exon, Kai Hatch and Zundel to increase their advantage to 6-0. Four more runs crossed the plate for UVU in the sixth inning to provide the final margin.
Seven different CSU players each recorded a hit at the plate for the Green and White on the offensive end. O'Hair (0-7) allowed 10 runs (nine earned) on 12 hits in five and two-thirds innings of work, while freshman Caleb Fialka (Bolingbrook, IL/Bolingbrook) (Bolingbrook, Ill.) gave up a hit on two-thirds innings of relief.
Zundel went 3-of-3 offensively with two RBI and scored twice to pace Utah Valley, while Jeremy Gendlek (3-3) threw six scoreless innings to earn the win for the home team.
The Cougars and the Wolverines will continue their series tomorrow afternoon with the first pitch set for 5 p.m., central time. Click here for the live stats link or here for a live update on Twitter.com/GoCSUCougars.
~CSU~
