Box Score

DAVIS, Calif. -- Sophomore left-hander Robert Garcia tied a career high with nine strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings on Friday afternoon, while Ryan Anderson and Cameron Olson each left the yard on the day, but a pair of unearned runs in the seventh inning proved to be the Aggies' undoing as visiting Utah Valley squeaked by UC Davis, 4-3, at Dobbins Stadium.

Playing in front of the hometown faithful for the first time in 2017, the Aggies fell to 1-2 overall on the year, twice erasing one-run deficits before the Wolverines struck in the decisive seventh. Utah Valley, which took advantage of four UC Davis errors on the day, earned its first win of the season, improving to 1-3 overall.

Garcia earned his second straight no-decision, allowing two runs on four hits in his stint on the mound, retiring 12 consecutive hitters at one point and striking out eight of them. He struck out at least two hitters in each of the first four innings en route to matching his career best set against the Air Force Academy on March 24, 2016.

Sophomore reliever Chris Brown (0-2) suffered the loss, allowing the two unearned runs on a pair of hits, striking out a pair over the final 3 1/3 innings of work.

Starter Jackson Cofer (1-1) earned the win for the Wolverines, allowing just two runs on seven hits and striking out four before being lifted in the seventh. Paxton Schultz and Patrick Wolfe combined to allow just one run on two hits over the final 2 1/3 innings with the latter picking up his first save of the season.

An RBI double by Zac Willis in the first staked Utah Valley to the early lead before Garcia got stingy, striking out the final two batters of the inning and not allowing a base runner until a one-out walk in the fifth.

After a golden chance to score with the bases loaded and one out in the third went for naught, the Aggies got the run back on a Brad Pluschkell sacrifice fly in the fifth to tie the game and, after the Wolverines regained the lead when Kade Poulsen was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, drew even once again on Anderson's second home run of the season that cleared the wall in left in the sixth to make it 2-2.

A lead-off single by Paul Estrada got the rally going for Utah Valley in the seventh and he stole second to move into scoring position for Trevor Peterson three batters later. Peterson's single was misplayed in the outfield, allowing Estrada to score, and Peterson came all the around when the throw to the cutoff man to try and throw him out advancing to third base flew into the stands, allowing him to score and make it 4-2.

UC Davis had one more rally in it, scoring a two-out run in the eighth when Olson cleared the fence in right field for his first home run of the season to make it 4-3, but the Wolverines' bullpen clamped down, getting a pop-up to end the frame and working around a Jacob Thomas two-out infield single in the ninth to close out the game.

Thomas and Pluschkell each finished with a pair of hits on the day, helping the Aggies out-hit the visitors, 9-6, for the game. It was the third straight multi-hit game to start the season for Thomas, the reigning Big West Conference Field Player of the Week who is 8-for-12 (.667) with three runs scored, three doubles, a home run, and three RBI, to start the year.

Olson's home run was the senior's first hit of the season while freshman Alejandro Lara collected his first collegiate hit with a fifth-inning single.

Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon (Feb. 25) at 1 p.m. at Dobbins Stadium.

Utah Valley 4, UC Davis 3 (Feb 24, 2017 at Davis, Calif.)
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Utah Valley......... 100 001 200 - 4 6 0 (1-3)
UC Davis............ 000 011 010 - 3 9 4 (1-2)
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Pitchers: Utah Valley - Cofer,Jackson; Schultz, Paxton(7); Wolfe,Patrick(9) and Atkinson,Jake. UC Davis - Garcia, Robert; Brown, Chris (6) and Diaz, Ignacio. Win-Cofer,Jackson(1-0) Save-Wolfe,Patrick(1) Loss- Brown, Chris (0-2) T-2:41 A-278
HR UCD - Anderson, Ryan (2); Olson, Cameron (1).
Weather: mostly cloudy, cool