OREM, Utah – Utah Valley secured its seventh series win of the season with a 10-2 victory over California Baptist on Saturday afternoon at UCCU Ballpark. Mason Strong finished 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs for UVU (27-17, 12-5) with a first-inning homer to set the tone against CBU (22-21, 5-9). Colton Kennedy pitched seven innings against the Lancers with six strikeouts.
 
Luke Iverson led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk and moved into scoring position after he stole second base. Strong, with two outs in the inning, launched his first of two home runs for his first multi-homer game of his career. He joins Nate Bach and Landon Frei, who have homered twice in a game this season.
 
The Lancers tied it up with runs in the second and fourth innings and looked to take the lead in the top of the fourth inning when DJ Massey quickly gloved a one-hopper and threw out the runner to keep the game tied. The Lancers again threatened in the fifth inning with the leading run on third base, but Kennedy retired Ryan Kim on a strikeout.
 
After the big strikeout from Kennedy, the UVU offense started with a walk worked by Bach and a single by Massey, who advanced to second on a throwing error. UVU had runners on second and third and took a 3-2 lead on a wild pitch before Iverson lined out to right field, but the run was able to score to make it 4-2 in favor of the Wolverines.
 
The UVU defense stepped up again in the sixth inning after Andrew Walters walked and a single by Carter Eberhard put runners on the corners, but Kennedy forced a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning and retire the side.
 
Kennedy's day ended on his sixth strikeout at the end of the seventh inning. He earned his third win of the season and needs seven strikeouts to move into the record books for single-season strikeouts. Today, he recorded his 100^th career strikeout in the outing.
 
The Wolverines' offense pulled away in the seventh inning, starting with a walk from Bach before singles by De Anda and Massey put UVU up 5-2. The inning continued with runners on second and third for Jayden Smith, who drove a 1-2 single through the middle to score two runs and make it 7-2. CBU made two throwing errors on pickoff attempts in the seventh inning, with the second allowing Smith to advance to third base. Frei singled to right field to extend Utah Valley's lead to 8-2 before Strong launched his second homer of the day to left field.
 
With the 10-2 lead, the Utah Valley bullpen came in with George Albrecht coming in to pitch the eighth, and he retired the side in order, and he has now had at least one strikeout in his last four appearances.
 
Luke Kimmel pitched the ninth for UVU and recorded a strikeout, and he finished his third straight outing without allowing a run. The game ended on a lineout by Nick Dumesnil.
 
UP NEXT
Utah Valley and California Baptist will finish the series on Sunday, Apr. 27 at 1:05 p.m. MT. The game has been pushed back due to potential rain in the area. The Wolverines will travel for the final time in WAC play next weekend to Arlington to take on the Mavericks beginning on Friday.