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Utah Tech University Athletics

Baseball Seniors

Baseball John Potter, Media Relations Assistant

Seniors sent off with win over Lancers

Friend outstanding on Senior Day in STG

Box Score

SAINT GEORGE, Utah – Sam Friend (Las Vegas, NV/Centennial) made the most of his final start in front of the Bruce Hurst Field faithful Saturday afternoon. The southpaw from Las Vegas struck out a career-high nine batters while Dixie State took advantage of some non-traditional offense to defeat California Baptist 3-1 on Senior Day.
 
Friend tossed 7.2 innings of one-run, six-hit baseball for his sixth win of the year. Dixie State, earning a split with the Lancers, improved to 29-15 and 21-13 in the Pacific West Conference.
 
California Baptist got on the board early with a two-out solo home run by Zach Esquerra, his 16th of the year to lead the PacWest and tie for the top spot in the nation. Friend worked out of multiple jams as the Lancers threatened with two outs in each of the first three innings. He calmed down and allowed one hits over his final four innings.
 
CBU's Michael Davis was equally as effective in his start. Unfortunately for him and the Lancers, walks and errors cost the visitors a chance for the series win.
 
Jordan Hanley (Las Vegas. NV/Bonanza) began the DSU sixth inning with a double, the second and last hit offered by Davis. After a sacrifice bunt moved Hanley to third, Kevin Kline (Las Vegas, NV/Rancho) floated a ball foul down the first base line. The defender - Matt Daugherty - gave Kline another opportunity by dropped the ball. Kline took advantage, tying the game with an RBI groundout to shortstop.
 
In the seventh, Kris Kaplan (Las Vegas, NV/Cimarron Memorial) reached on a ball that slipped past Antonio Chavarria at third for an error. Pinch runner Garrett Nash (Draper, UT/Jordan) advanced to second on a sac bunt by Mitch Manning (Kaysville, UT/Davis). Yuto Kata (Chiba, Japan/Juan Diego (Utah)) earned a free base on an errant throw on a grounder from short. Both runners advanced on a passed ball and the bases filled when Ty Johnson (Thousand Oaks, CA/Millennium) drew a four-pitch walk. Hanley came to the plate and walked on a full count to give Dixie State the lead. During the subsequent Yack plate appearance, Davis uncorked a wild pitch scoring Kata with an insurance run.
 
Friend and Josh Mooney (American Fork, UT/American Fork) stopped a threat in the eighth inning with the tying run at the plate. Mooney retired the side in order to earn his ninth save, matching a Storm single season record held by Daniel Zapata (Mesa, AZ/Westwood) and Todd Morlock.
 
Dixie State closes out the home portion of the schedule with an 18-6 record. The regular season concludes next weekend at Brazell Stadium in Phoenix against Grand Canyon. DSU plays a doubleheader directly affecting the PacWest championship race Friday beginning at 5 p.m. and a single non-conference contest Saturday at 2 p.m.
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