Baseball 4/2/2014 5:56:00 PM John Potter, Media Relations Assistant

Storm vs. Cougars: Top two teams in the PacWest clash at Hurst

Dixie State puts 13-game win streak on the line

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Dixie State Red Storm (24-11, 18-2 PacWest) vs. Azusa Pacific Cougars (18-10, 11-5 PacWest)
April 3-5, 2014
Bruce Hurst Field | St. George, Utah

Game Times:
Thursday – 6 p.m.
Friday (DH) – 4 p.m.
Saturday – 11 a.m.

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

Dixie State against APU: Azusa Pacific leads 8-6

Dixie State Projected Starters:
THURSDAY: RHP Chance Abrath (Salt Lake City, UT/West) (5-1, 3.33 ERA)
FRIDAY (1): RHP John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) (5-1, 2.79 ERA)
FRIDAY (2): RHP Kort Christoffersen (Ogden, UT/Weber) (2-2, 5.40 ERA)
SATURDAY: RHP Kody Christoffersen (Ogden, UT/Weber) (4-1, 3.75 ERA)

Dixie State welcomes Azusa Pacific for a four-game series featuring the top two teams in the league standings from Thursday-Sunday, April 3-5, at Bruce Hurst Field. The Cougars lead the all-time series eight games two six, including a 3-1 mark in games played at Hurst over the year. Last year, Dixie State took three of four games from APU on their home field. The Red Storm are currently five games up on the Cougars in the race for the PacWest title and seven games clear of third-place Point Loma.

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

TAKE A CHANCE ON ABRATH
Junior right-hander Chance Abrath is expected to take the mound for the Red Storm on Thursday night 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 four starts, including a performance worthy of PacWest Newcomer of the Year honors – six shutout innings with four hits against Hawaii Hilo. Abrath co-leads the DSU staff with 30 strikeouts, 15^th best in the PacWest. He enters the weekend with a 5-1 record and 3.33 ERA.

FRIDAY'S DUO
Junior righty John Conquy will be looking for his sixth straight win and senior right-hander Kort Christoffersen looks to follow a great start against UHH as the DSU starters on Friday. Conquy is 5-1 in six starts this season, striking out 31 batters in 42 innings while posting a 2.79 ERA, which is also 13th-best in the PacWest. He has walked just six batters all year, but he has plunked four batters with a pitch. Kort started the year 0-2, but has bounced back to move his season record to 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA. Kort was slated to be the Storm's closer last year before an injury in February kept him out for multiple weeks.

WRAPPING UP WITH KODY
Kody Christoffersen will start Saturday's games against the Cougars. Kody has been in the starting rotation since the midway part of last season. This year, Kody has won four straight appearances, including a five-inning effort against Hawaii Hilo last weekend. Kody has allowed only eight extra-base hits in 36 innings of work on the year.

IN LINE FOR HISTORY
Dixie State is looking for its longest winning streak in its NCAA Division II tenure. The Storm won 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. With a win in the series opener against APU, the current win streak would reach 14 games.

HAWAII HILO RECAP
Four games, four wins for the Red Storm. Chance Abrath (Salt Lake City, UT/West) and John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) each earned their fifth win of the year as DSU took the first two games of the series, 12-1 and 8-4. The Christoffersen brothers then pitched gems to help the Storm sweep Hawaii Hilo with 6-1 and 6-3 victories. Tyler Blair (Henderson, NV/Green Valley) and Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, AZ/Desert Mountain) each hit over .400 for the series.

STRONG BULLPEN STAFF
Dixie State's pitching bullpen staff has been stellar in 2014. DSU as a team is holding opponents to a .203 batting average in the 8^th and 9^th innings of games. Leading the charge is the nation's leader in saves, junior right-hander Evan Parker. His 11 saves through 35 games have already set a Dixie State season record. Parker has allowed only two earned runs on eight hits in 15.1 IP. He has notched saves in seven of his last eight appearances, with one coming in the Hilo series. 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 34-10 when they score first in the last two seasons and since the start of 2012 are 46-3 when leading after the seventh inning. Additionally, DSU has a record of 12-1 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 T-7th in the nation and second in the Pac-12 with 39 sacrifice hits. Junior Yuto Kata (Chiba, Japan/Juan Diego (Utah)) leads the Storm and is second in the PacWest with 11 sacrifice bunts while senior Ty Johnson is second on the team with seven sac bunts.

STILL NATIONALLY RANKED
The Dixie State baseball team continues an upwards march in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers regional poll and stayed strong in two national polls – Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and College Baseball Lineup – on Monday. DSU jumped two spots to No. 5 in the West region writer's poll. In the national polls, Dixie State is at No. 21, up eight spots, (CBN) and No. 30 (CBL). The College Baseball Lineup capsule on the Storm reads: After a slow start Dixie State (24-11) continues to earn wins. The Red Storm swept Hawaii Hilo and will welcome Azusa Pacific to town this week.

OFFENSIVE LEADERS
Redshirt freshman Trey Kamachi still leads the DSU offense after earning consecutive PacWest Newcomer of the Week honors with a .386 batting average. Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, AZ/Desert Mountain) has been a steading force at the top of the lineup. McLaughlin has a five-game hitting streak and a .346 season average. 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 paces the squad with 12 doubles while Kline has 10 and Kaplan (tied with Kamachi) each have eight. Kline has four home runs blasted three home runs. The trio has combined for 74 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.

COUGAR WATCHING
Azusa Pacific is 18-10 on the season and in second place in the PacWest standings (11-5) despite losing three of four games last weekend on the road at Point Loma. Most recently, the Cougars played an exhibition against the Class-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes on Tuesday. The Quakes took the single game, 10-1. APU has lost five of their last six after a stretch of winning 15 of 18 games. Outfielder Mitch Dergazarian has played very well while posting a .407 batting average. Third baseman Matt Kimmel is hitting .390 with four homers and 23 RBI. First baseman Jordan Brower tops the power numbers with seven home runs and 24 RBI. APU leads the PacWest in team ERA by almost a full run with a 2.37 ERA. Junior Zach Hedges has been nearly unhittable this season – 4-1 record, 0.91 ERA and .165 opponents batting average. Head coach Paul Svagdis is in his 12^th year at the helm of the Cougar baseball program.

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