MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Baseball plays their second series of the season this weekend when they host Utah Valley University for four games in three days, with a double header on Saturday.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (2-1) vs. Utah Valley (2-2)
February 23-25, Brother Ronald Gallagher Stadium – Moraga, Calif.
Friday, 2:00 PM | WATCH | LIVE STATS | TICKETS
Saturday, 11:00 AM | WATCH | LIVE STATS | TICKETS
Saturday, 2:00 PM | WATCH | LIVE STATS | TICKETS
Sunday, 1:00 PM | WATCH | LIVE STATS |TICKETS
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gaels took two out of three against Oakland University last weekend, scoring 24 runs in their two wins. They also got solid pitching performances from Derik Eaquinto, Ryan Sanders, and Jason Reitz, with the sophomore Reitz going five innings with eight Ks and allowing just one run on Sunday.
 
After a 5-0 shutout loss in game one, SMC's bats came to life in games two and three, with 15 hits in each game. Senior Nathan Chong played a big part in powering the Gaels offense in their series win on opening weekend, which led to him being named the Shamrock Office Solutions Student-Athlete of the Week.
 
Chong hit .417 over the weekend, tied for the team lead in runs scored with three, and was second in RBIs with four. He hit a laser beam of a home run to the opposite field just over the wall in right with Coleman Schmidt on base that made it 4-0 Gaels in the rubber match on Sunday.
 
The Fullerton, Calif. native opened up the scoring in game two on Friday with an RBI single plate Schmidt, and came around to score on WCC Freshman of the Week Connor "Bear" Harrison's single. He would double in that game as well, and singled Schmidt home before his home run in game three.
 
Harrison hit two home runs in his first two college games, including a moonshot over the scoreboard in right center in game three that was estimated to go 433 feet by Saint Mary's Trackman system.
 
The De La Salle product caught two of the Gaels first three games, with Chong catching the other, and went 5 for 8 over the opening weekend with six RBIs and 11 total bases to lead SMC. His big blast in the fifth inning Sunday made it an 8-1 lead for Saint Mary's, but ended up being a critical hit in a game that ended up an 11-8 win for the Gaels.
 
ABOUT UTAH VALLEY
The Wolverines enter the series with SMC at 2-2 after winning two out of three at CSUN for their fourth consecutive weekend series win. They dropped the final game of the weekend to UC Riverside at the Plex. UVU was led by Calyn Halvorson, who went 5-for-14 on the weekend with a homer and five RBIs, and Daniel Dickinson added a 5-for-15 weekend with a two-run home run to lift UVU in game two of the series at CSUN.
 
The Wolverines were picked second in the WAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, with Dickinson picked for Co-Player of the Honors. Matthew Schwarz rounded out the other UVU selection to the Preseason All-WAC team.
 
D1 Baseball followed suit by picking UVU second in their poll, and Dickinson earned his second Preseason Player of the Year award prediction. In their position rankings, he was the No. 19 overall second baseman in 2024. Schwarz capped the list of player rankings for the Wolverines, coming in at No. 48 out of the top 50 shortstops.
 
The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) named UVU relief Eli Sundquist to their Stopper of the Year Watchlist, given annually to the nation's top college reliever.
 
Saint Mary's full schedule can be viewed here and season tickets can be purchased by clicking here. 
 
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