BOXSCORE: at Utah Valley

OREM, Utah - Despite hitting seven home runs the Northern Colorado baseball team could not sustain the lead, giving up nine runs in the eighth inning as Utah Valley won a 19-14 shootout in the series finale. The Bears are now 5-7 on the season, while the Wolverines are 5-5.

Senior Andy Mees tied the school record, hitting three home runs on a 3-for-3 day with three walks. He hit a solo shot in the first inning, a two-run long ball in the third frame and another solo dinger in the ninth. Mees also accounted for six runs and four RBI in the contest.

Senior Kevin Sandberg hit two of his own, going back-to-back with Mees in the third and hitting a three-run bomb in the fifth inning. Sandberg already has seven home runs on the season, just 12 games in, bringing his career total to 30 which ranks sixth all-time at Northern Colorado.

Junior Mike Raudenbush and sophomore T.J. Berge also hit home runs for NC as the team scored 14 runs on three hits and committed four errors. Utah Valley scored its 19 runs on 18 hits and they tallied no errors in the game.

Senior Brian Sizemore started on the hill, pitching three innings and allowing eight runs on eight hits while walking four. Freshman Nate Steinmetz threw the next four innings allowing just two runs - one earned - with five hits. He did not walk a batter and fanned two. Junior Jeff Sciba pitched the next 0.1 innings, allowing six runs on five hits with one walk and Forbes Scott pitched the final 0.2 allowing three runs on no hits, but all three were unearned. He also walked one.

"I've never been part of a game where we hit seven home runs and lost," said Head Coach Kevin Smallcomb. "We had some very untimely errors and didn't do a great job of protecting the baseball. We also need to learn to pitch to 1-2 counts, instead of the 2-0 counts we're having a lot of the time."

Once again, the Bears took an early lead scoring one - on Mees' first home run - in the first inning, but Utah Valley scored four in the bottom half for the 4-1 advantage. NC exploded for six runs in the top of the third and tacked on two more in the fourth to lead 9-4.

The Wolverines had a big inning of their own in the fourth, scoring five to knot the score. The Bears immediately answered with three in the fifth and allowed just one in the bottom half for a 12-10 lead. Neither team scored in the sixth and an RBI double by senior Erik Hegstad in the seventh after walks to Mees and Sandberg extended the lead to three, 13-10.

The wheels fell off for NC in the eighth as Utah Valley scored nine runs on five hits with the help of three Bears errors and NC was able to score just one in the ninth for the 19-14 final.

Luckily, Northern Colorado does not have long to dwell on the loss as they host Air Force on Tuesday for a 2:30 game at Jackson Field.