BASEBALL
TUCSON, Arizona -- Utah Valley jumped out to an early three-run lead at No. 17 Arizona but the Wildcats (9-2) scored eight runs over their final four innings to win 9-3 and complete a three-game sweep of the Wolverines (3-7).
After back-to-back walks to begin the game, Chris Benson singled to left to drive in Willie Pratt for the first run. Jason Zundel scored on a balk and Benson would come in on an RBI groundout by Billy Burgess to make it 3-0 UVU after the top half of the first.
Arizona came back with a run in the third when Bryce Ortega singled, stole second and then scored on a base hit by Joey Rickard, all after there were two outs and nobody on. Ortega was 3-for-3 with two doubles, four runs and two stolen bases on the day.
Cole Frenzel had a two-out single in the fifth that brought home two runs, tying the game at 3-3.
The Wildcats took the lead in the seventh when Jett Bandy's two-out base hit to center scored two and gave his team a 5-3 lead. Arizona put the game away in the eighth with four runs. All nine runs scored by the Wildcats came with two outs.
Benson, Kai Hatch and Austin Haws each had two hits for Utah Valley. Benson's two hits came in his first two at-bats, giving him hits in six consecutive trips to the plate after a 4-for-4 day on Saturday.
In addition to Ortega, Rickard and Frenzel had three hits apiece and drove in a combined five runs for Arizona.
Utah Valley will again face a Pac-10 school this coming week when the Wolverines travel to Pullman, Washington for a three-game series at Washington State.
WRESTLING
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Flint Ray won his second consecutive conference title at the NCAA West Regional in Colorado Springs Sunday to earn a trip to this year's NCAA Championships. Justin Morrill and Benjamin Kjar too punched their tickets to Nationals as Morrill placed second and Kjar third but Kjar managed to also win the true second-place match to earn his berth.
Ray (133 lbs.) and Morrill (141 lbs.) took the easy route to the finals as they both won their first two matches to get in, while Kjar (125 lbs.) was upset in the first round and had to battle back in the consolation bracket from the get-go.
UVU's Brad Darrington (174 lbs.) also placed at the regional as he finished in third and too won his true second-place match. But with only one automatic qualifier in his weight class Darrington did not qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Out of the seven Western Wrestling Conference schools competing at the regional the Wolverines came in fifth place with 41.5 points. Wyoming won the regional for the second year in a row with a score of 93, while Northern Iowa placed second with 87. Air Force came in third (59), North Dakota State fifth (45.5), Northern Colorado sixth (24) and South Dakota State rounded out the field with 14 points.
"I'm excited for our three guys that are going to Nationals," UVU head coach Greg Williams said. "I'm very pleased for Flint, that he managed to get his second title. I am also extremely pleased for Justin Morrill and how he was able to reach his goal and get to Nationals in his final year."
"I was also pleased for Brad and Ben who managed to come all the way through after tough first-round losses. They both showed a lot of character."
Ray started the day with two easy wins over UNI's Ryan Jauch (10-5, dec.) and AFA's Derek Gillespie (13-2, major dec.) to head to the finals. The defending conference champion and one-seed looked very strong as he headed into the finals against UNC's Casey Cruz, the two-seed.
In the 133-pound final Ray took a 5-1 lead after the second period and was in control against Cruz. Cruz however battled back with an escape and a late takedown to make things interesting but Ray did what he had to do to hold on and win 5-4 to win his second straight conference title.
Morrill too advanced to the finals with two dominating showings in his first two bouts. Morrill cruised past NDSU's Geoff Martin (7-1, dec.) in the quarters and UNI's Joey Lazor (20-7, major dec.) in the semis. With the wins Morrill had to go through the defending conference champ from Air Force and the No. 1 seed Cole VonOhlen.
VonOhlen, who is ranked 10th in the nation at 141-pounds, managed to defeat Morrill by technical fall (16-0) but the Wolverine senior Morrill still managed to earn his first berth to the "Big Show" with the second place finish, as his weight class was awarded two automatic qualifiers.
In Kjar's first match of the day, South Dakota State's Aaron Pickrel upset the No. 2 seed and returning NCAA Qualifier. Kjar controlled the match as he led 3-1 with just seconds remaining in regulation. Pickrel then managed to pick up a stalling point and had riding time to tie the bout at 3-all and force overtime. After a scoreless first sudden victory overtime the two headed for a second OT. With the clock ticking down at the end of the period Pickrel managed to reverse Kjar's hold and get the upset over the nationally ranked grappler, 5-3.
In Kjar's second match of the day he bounced back and picked up a hard fought 7-5 win over AFA's Greg Rinker in sudden victory overtime. Kjar continued his comeback by defeating NDSU's Trent Sprenkle, the one-seed who defeated Kjar two weeks ago, by a 3-1 score as he picked up a late takedown in the third period.
In the third-place match Kjar got a rematch with SDSU's Pickrel and Kjar took care of business by defeating him 7-1. Kjar accumulated over six minutes of riding time in the bout. The win gave Kjar a shot at another consecutive automatic berth to the NCAA's as he then found himself paired up with UNI's Caleb Flores in the true second-place match.
Kjar took a 2-0 lead over Flores after an early takedown. Flores then picked up an escape in the second to cut the lead to one. The No. 3 seed Flores picked up another late point in the bout but Kjar picked up the 3-2 win as he had the riding point advantage to win the match and secure his second straight trip to Nationals.
After receiving a bye in the first round, Darrington dropped a hard fought 5-2 decision to Patrick Martinez, the No. 1 seed from Wyoming. Darrington did a nice job in his next match in the consolation semifinals as he dominated UNC's Cody McAninch by major decision 16-5 to advance to the third-place match.
In the third-place match, Darrington made quick work of UNI's Brice Wolf pinning him in the first period (2:02) to earn a true-second place match. In Darrington's true second-place match he took on AFA's Joseph Stafford. Darrington controlled the match and went on to win over Stafford 4-1.
At 184-pounds, Casen Eldredge too lost his first match against the two-seed and the No. 8 ranked Ryan Loder from Northern Iowa 9-1. Eldredge battled back nicely by holding on to defeat UNC's Eric Brennan 4-3 in the consolation semis. The win advanced Eldredge to the third-place match.
In the third-place match NDSU's Kenny Moenkedick took the upper hand and managed to pin Eldredge in the first period.
At 149-pounds Josh Wilson got off to a good start for UVU as he led NDSU's Mark Erickson 10-0 and ended up pinning him with one second left in the match. In the semi-final against the one-seed from UNI Brett Robbins, Wilson and Robbins needed overtime to declare a victor as the bout was tied at 1-all at the end of regulation. In the first overtime, Wilson was close to getting a takedown but Robbins reversed it and secured the two for the 3-1 win.
Wilson then was bounced from the tournament by returning All-American Justin Gaethje from Northern Colorado in the consolation semis. The match was close throughout but Gaethje went on to defeat Wilson 5-2.
157-pounder Richard Winger, 165-pounder Jeb Clark, 197-pounder Trevor Rupp and 285-pounder Christian Denny were also in action for UVU at the regional and all finished with 0-2 records.
For those who didn't qualify at the regional, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 48 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 9. The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; qualifying event placement; quality wins; results against common opponents; winning percentage; RPI; coaches ranking and the number of matches contested at that weight class. Last year the WWC received three at-large selections.
The 2011 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will be held in Philadelphia, Pa., March 17-19 at the Wells Fargo Center.
West Regional Automatic Qualifiers for the 2011 NCAA Championships
125 - Michael Martinez (WYO)
125 - Benjamin Kjar (UVU)
133 - Flint Ray (UVU)
141 - Cole VonOhlen (AFA)
141 - Justin Morrill (UVU)
149 - Cole Dallaserra (WYO)
149 - Justin Gaethje (UNC)
157 - Vince Salminen (NDSU)
157 - David Bonin (UNI)
165 - Shane Onufer (WYO)
174 - Patrick Martinez (WYO)
184 - Ryan Loder (UNI)
184 - Joe LeBlanc (WYO)
197 - LJ Helbig (WYO)
285 - Christian Brantley (UNI)
Bonus Match Results:
125 - True 2nd - No. 2 Benjamin Kjar (UVU) dec. No. 3 Caleb Flores (UNI), 3-2
133 - True 2nd - No. 4 Derek Gillespie (AFA) dec. No. 2 Casey Cruz (UNC), 6-4
149 - True 2nd - No. 3 Justin Gaethje (UNC) dec. No. 1 Brett Robbins (UNI), 5-4
157 - True 2nd - No. 2 David Bonin (UNI) dec. Nick Flynn (SDSU), 11-4
165 - True 2nd - No. 2 Steven Monk (NDSU) dec. No. 4 Clayton Gable (AFA), 7-6
174 - True 2nd - No. 4 Brad Darrington (UVU) dec. No. 3 Joseph Stafford (AFA), 4-1
184 - True 2nd - No. 1 Joe LeBlanc (WYO) major dec. No. 3 Kenny Moenkedick (NDSU), 13-4
Finals Results:
125 - No. 4 Michael Martinez (WYO) dec. No. 3 Caleb Flores (UNI), 3-1 SV
133 - No. 1 Flint Ray (UVU) dec. No. 2 Casey Cruz (UNC), 5-4
141 - No. 1 Cole VonOhlen (AFA) tech. fall No. 2 Justin Morrill (UVU), 16-0
149 - No. 2 Cole Dallaserra (WYO) dec. No. 1 Brett Robbins (UNI), 3-2 2OT
157 - No. 1 Vince Salminen (NDSU) fall No. 2 David Bonin (UNI), 5:28
165 - No. 1 Shane Onufer (WYO) dec. No. 2 Steven Monk (NDSU), 9-3
174 - No. 1 Patrick Martinez (WYO) dec. No. 3 Joseph Stafford (AFA), 6-2
184 - No. 2 Ryan Loder (UNI) dec. No. 1 Joe LeBlanc (WYO), 4-3
197 - No. 1 LJ Helbig (WYO) major dec. No. 3 Andy O'Loughlin (UNI), 14-4
285 - No. 1 Christian Brantley (UNI) dec. No. 3 Matthew McLaughlin (WYO), 3-1