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Utah Tech University Athletics

Taylor Stone
Julie Buchanan Photography

Baseball John Potter, Media Relations Assistant

First place Storm host Vulcans in weekend PacWest DH

DSU on nine-game win streak heading in to Saturday



Dixie State Red Storm (20-11, 14-2 PacWest) vs. Hawaii Hilo Vulcans (10-17, 8-12 PacWest)
March 29 - 30, 2014
Bruce Hurst Field | St. George, Utah

Game Times:
Saturday (DH) – 4 p.m.
Sunday (DH) – 1 p.m.

Radio: None
Video: SouthernUtahLive.com (Saturday's first game only)
Live Stats: Dixie State Baseball Stats
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | #DixieBase

Dixie State against UHH: Dixie State leads 28-13, 16-2 at Bruce Hurst Field
 
Dixie State Projected Starters:
SATURDAY (1): RHP Chance Abrath (Salt Lake City, UT/West) (4-1, 3.83 ERA) 
SATURDAY (2): RHP John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) (4-1, 2.83 ERA)
SUNDAY (1): RHP Kort Christoffersen (Ogden, UT/Weber) (1-2, 6.83 ERA)
SUNDAY (2): RHP Kody Christoffersen (Ogden, UT/Weber) (3-1, 3.83 ERA)

Dixie State continues PacWest play this weekend as the Red Storm welcome in the University of Hawaii Hilo Vulcans from Saturday, March 29 to Sunday, March 30 at Bruce Hurst Field. The Storm leads the all-time series with UHH, 28-13, thanks to winning four of the last five meetings. Last season, Dixie State took three from the Vulcans in Hilo prior to rain delaying out the final day. DSU and UHH resumed the series a month later at a neutral site, Cal Baptist. Dixie State won the game initially halted by rain before dropping a seven-inning contest. The Red Storm enter this weekend's series having won nine consecutive games and find themselves four games up in the win column over Azusa Pacific atop the PacWest standings.

WATCH AND FOLLOW LIVE
All four of Dixie State's games vs. Hawaii Hilo this weekend will feature live stats online, free of charge, at DixieAthletics.com. Fans can also follow the first game of the series on Saturday with a free video broadcast provided by SouthernUtahLive.com. Links can be found on the front page of DixieAthletics.com.

STARTING THE SERIES OPENER
Junior right-hander Chance Abrath is expected to take the mound for the Red Storm on Saturday afternoon in the series opener. After two rough outings to start the year, Abrath turned around his season with a 12-strikeout performance in his home debut against Montana State Billings. He has won his last three starts, including a six-inning performance last weekend against Hawaii Pacific. Abrath leads the DSU staff with 30 strikeouts, 14th best in the PacWest. He enters the weekend with a 4-1 record and 3.83 ERA.

GAME TWO STARTER
Junior righty John Conquy will be looking for his fifth straight win when he takes the mounds in Saturday's nightcap against the Vulcans. Conquy is 4-1 in five starts this season, striking out 28 batters in 35 innings while posting a 2.83 ERA, which is also 12th-best in the PacWest. He has walked just six batters all year, but he has plunked four batters with a pitch. Conquy picked up the win in his last start vs. Hawaii Pacific with seven strong innings on the mound. He has pitched into the seventh inning in three consecutive starts.

WRAPPING UP THE SERIES – THE BROTHERS CHRISTOFFERSEN
Senior right-handers Kort Christoffersen and Kody Christoffersen will start Sunday's games against the Vulcans. Kort earned a no-decision last Saturday in his start against HPU – he allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings. He would have earned the win minus the Sea Warriors ninth-inning comeback to force extra innings. Kort started the year 0-2, but has bounced back to move his season record to 1-2 with a 6.83 ERA. Kort was slated to be the Storm's closer last year before an injury in February kept him out for multiple weeks. Kody has been in the starting rotation since the midway part of last season. This year, Kody has won three straight appearances, including a one-run, three-hit effort against Hawaii Pacific last weekend. Over those starts, Kody has scattered two earned hits on 10 hits. Kody has allowed only six extra-base hits in 31 innings of work on the year.

THE SEARCH FOR TEN STRAIGHT
Dixie State is looking for its first 10-game winning streak since 13 consecutive game wins from March 16 – April 8, 2010. In the previous string, the Storm won its first game in a home series finale against HPU. Dixie State then swept four games from UH Hilo, four more from Academy of Art, took two from California Baptist, then won a road game at HPU before the Sea Warriors broke the streak with a 6-5 win.  

HPU RECAP
Dixie State stayed hot by sweeping Hawaii Pacific last weekend in a four-game series at Bruce Hurst Field. Game one saw DSU jump to a 6-0 lead over the first six innings. Drew McLaughlin went 2-for-3 with two RBI in the 6-3 victory. In game 2, Dixie State came back from an early 2-0 deficit with four late runs to win 4-2. Tyler Blair went 2-for-4 with two RBI and John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) allowed 1ER in seven innings to complete the doubleheader sweep. DSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in game three, but allowed 4 runs in the 9th to force extra innings. Yuto Kata drove in Donald Glover for a walk-off 8-7 win in the 10th. Kata, Glover, and Dalton Gust collected multiple hits for the Red Storm. In the series finale, DSU again doubled up HPU 6-3. McLaughlin went 2-for-4 including his first home run of his collegiate career.

STRONG BULLPEN STAFF
Dixie State's pitching bullpen staff has been stellar in 2014. DSU as a team is holding opponents to a .193 batting average in the 8th and 9th innings of games. Leading the charge is the nation's leader in saves, junior right-hander Evan Parker. His 10 saves through 31 games tie him with 2013 closer Josh Mooney (American Fork, UT/American Fork) for the most in any Dixie State season. Parker has allowed only two earned runs on eight hits in 14.1 IP. He has notched saves in six of his last seven appearances, including three in the HPU series last weekend. Matt Hill, Bubba Blau (Roy, UT/Roy) and Taylor Stone have been dominant in the innings leading up to the ninth. Hill has not allowed a run since March 15, Blau has scattered three hits in four innings and Stone has not allowed a run in seven straight appearances.

PLAYING FROM AHEAD
In the last two seasons, Dixie State has done a tremendous job of getting an early lead and then not relinquishing that lead. The Red Storm are a combined 30-10 when they score first in the last two seasons and since the start of 2012 are 43-3 when leading after the seventh inning. Additionally, DSU has a record of 11-1 this year when scoring in the first inning.

MAKING STORM SACRIFICES
The Storm have done an excellent job this season of laying down sacrifice bunts. Dixie State ranks 15th in the nation and second in the Pac-12 with 30 sacrifice bunts. Junior Yuto Kata (Chiba, Japan/Juan Diego (Utah)) leads the Storm and is second in the PacWest with eight sacrifice bunts while senior Ty Johnson is second on the team with six sac bunts.

NEWLY NATIONALLY RANKED
The Dixie State baseball team continues an upwards march in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers regional poll and debuted in two national polls – Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and College Baseball Lineup – on Monday. DSU jumped two spots to No. 7 in the West region writer's poll. The entrances into the national polls are at No. 29 (CBN) and No. 30 (CBL). The College Baseball Lineup capsule on the Storm reads: After losing their first seven games of the season, Dixie State (20-11) has gone 20-4 and is one of the hottest teams in the west. They'll be looking to extend their winning streak to ten games this week when they host Hawaii-Hilo.

OFFENSIVE LEADERS
Redshirt freshman Trey Kamachi has led the DSU offense over the last two series, earning him consecutive PacWest Newcomer of the Week honors. Last week, he extended his hitting streak to six games. He batted .400 (4-10) on the week with four runs scored and three RBI. He had a hit and scored a run in all four games of Dixie's four-game sweep of Hawaii Pacific, and drove in a run in three games. Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, AZ/Desert Mountain) has been a steading force at the top of the lineup. McLaughlin had five hits (.357 average) including a double and his first collegiate home run during Dixie State's four-game PacWest sweep of HPU. He scored three times from the leadoff spot. Power numbers this season has steadily come from the trio of senior first basemen Tyler Blair (Henderson, NV/Green Valley), junior DH Kevin Kline, and senior outfielder Kris Kaplan. Blair and Kline pace the squad with nine doubles each while Kline and Kaplan each have blasted three home runs. The trio have combined for 69 RBI.

TOP-THREE FINISHES
Dixie State has finished among the top three in the PacWest Conference since becoming league members seven seasons ago (2008-2013), the only PacWest team to have done so. Under Chris Pfatenhauer, DSU finished third last season with a 23-13 PacWest record. Prior to that, former coach Mike Littlewood (now at BYU) led Dixie State to conference titles in 2009 and 2011.

A VIEW OF THE VULCANS
The Vulcans are in the middle of a massive 21-game road swing, with 15 of those contests occurring on the mainland. Most recently, UH Hilo scored just one run and was swept in a four-game set at Holy Names. Prior to that on the road swing, the Vulcans split with Academy of Art, lost a single game to Menlo College and split a non-conference double header at Sonoma State. UH Hilo is lead by senior outfielder Austin Cusack, junior Jordan Murai and senior Kyle Watase, all hitting above .305 on the year. Watase has the only home run for the Vulcans. UHH is the best sacrificing team in the PacWest with 48 sacrifice bunts and eight sac flies. Jeremy Dela Cruz has three wins to lead the UHH pitching staff, but was roughed up allowing six runs in 1.1IP at HNU. Jordan Kurowaka has four complete games, three coming in seven-inning contests. Kallen Miyataki is in his first year as head coach after replacing longtime manager Joey Estella in July 2013.
 
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