Baseball Opens Final Series of Season with 8-3 Loss to Utah Valley

Julian Russell went 2-for-4 with a double and two stolen bases for CSU in its WAC series opener Thursday against Utah Valley

Box Score

CHICAGO – Chicago State baseball opened its final Western Athletic Conference series of the season Thursday night at Cougar Stadium with an 8-3 loss to visiting Utah Valley.

The Wolverines broke a scoreless tie in the second inning with three runs to gain an early 3-0 lead before CSU loaded the bases in the third and scored its first run as senior Andy Gertonson (Crystal Lake Ill./Central) drew an RBI walk to bring home junior Rick Salazar (Bloomindale, Ill./McHenry) to pull within 3-1.

After UVU increased its leading margin to 5-1 in the top of the fourth with a pair of runs, the Cougars scored again in the bottom half of the inning as Salazar lined an RBI sacrifice fly to right field that scored redshirt junior Julian Russell (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech), who led off with a single and stole two bases, to slice their deficit to 5-2.

The visitors then hiked its advantage to 8-2 on a Mark Krueger RBI single in the fifth and two additional runs in the top of the seventh. Gertonson struck again in the bottom of the inning with an RBI infield groundout that scored sophomore Zach Thomas (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West ) from third for the final margin.

Russell paced Chicago State offensively by hitting 2-for-4 with a double, while freshman Cody Grosse (Joliet, Ill./West) also went 2-for-4 at the plate. Junior Josh Willis (Omaha, Neb.) allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits in five innings thrown to take the loss while producing four strikeouts and four walks.

Utah Valley was paced by Krueger (2-for-3) and Spencer Gothberg (2-for-4, two RBIs) at the plate, while Danny Beddes captured the win on the mound by striking out nine batters despite allowing two runs on three hits in five innings thrown.

Both teams will meet in the second game of the series on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

#7 Andy Gertonson: OF/IF; 6' 4"; Senior; R-R

#1 Julian Russell: IF; 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior; R-R

#44 Zach Thomas: P/OF; 5' 11"; Sophomore; L-L

#10 Cody Grosse: IF/OF; 5' 7"; Freshman; R-L

#21 Josh Willis: P; 6' 1"; Junior; L-L

#22 Rick Salazar: IF; 6' 0"; Junior; R-R

Players Mentioned

#7 Andy Gertonson
: 6' 4"; Senior; R-R
: OF/IF

#1 Julian Russell
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior; R-R
: IF

#44 Zach Thomas
: 5' 11"; Sophomore; L-L
: P/OF

#10 Cody Grosse
: 5' 7"; Freshman; R-L
: IF/OF

#21 Josh Willis
: 6' 1"; Junior; L-L
: P

#22 Rick Salazar
: 6' 0"; Junior; R-R
: IF

Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned