Baseball 4/24/2014 10:52:00 AM John Potter, Media Relations Assistant

DSU travels to PLNU for PacWest series

Red Storm try to secure spot atop league, build West Region credibility

Tweet #DixieBase

Dixie State Red Storm (29-13, 20-4 PacWest) at Point Loma Sea Lions (20-21, 11-13 PacWest)
April 25-26, 2014
Carroll B. Land Stadium | San Diego, Calif.

Game Times:
Friday (DH) – 1 p.m. MT
Saturday (DH) – 1 p.m. MT

Radio: None
Video: Point Loma Video ($8 charge)
Live Stats: Point Loma Baseball Stats
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | #DixieBase

Dixie State against PLNU: Point Loma leads 4-2

Dixie State Projected Starters:
FRIDAY (1): RHP Chance Abrath (Salt Lake City, UT/West) (5-1, 4.79 ERA)
FRIDAY (2): RHP John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) (7-1, 2.10 ERA)
SATURDAY (1): RHP Kort Christoffersen (Ogden, UT/Weber) (2-2, 5.91 ERA)
SATURDAY (2): RHP Kody Christoffersen (Ogden, UT/Weber) (5-2, 3.38 ERA)

Dixie State heads to San Diego for its final regular season road trip to face Point Loma in Pacific West Conference doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday afternoon. First pitch from Carroll B. Land Stadium is set for noon each day. The Red Storm has a four-game lead in the PacWest over Azusa Pacific and is regionally ranked by the NCAA. PLNU is searching for a spot in the NCCAA playoffs, needing a record above .500 to be considered for postseason play. Last season, DSU and the Sea Lions split a PacWest series at Hurst.

WATCH AND FOLLOW LIVE
All four of Dixie State's games at PLNU this week will feature live stats online, free of charge, with a link available at DixieAthletics.com. Fans can also follow the action through the Sea Lions' America One video feed for an $8 charge.

REGIONALLY RANKED
The Dixie State baseball team debuted at No. 5 in the NCAA West Region Rankings released officially for the first time on Wednesday. Fellow Pacific West Conference foe California Baptist (31-11) tops the region flowed by three teams from the California Collegiate Athletic Association – Chico State (33-8), Cal Poly Pomona (29-11), UC San Diego (27-13). Western Oregon (27-15) from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference sits at No. 6, the final qualifying spot to the post season. Just outside the threshold are Cal State East Bay (23-17) and Hawaii Pacific (27-15).

CAL STATE L.A. RECAP
Dixie State earned its fourth series sweep of the season downing the Golden Eagles at home last weekend. After an offensive slugfest in the series opener, 17-9, the Storm shutout CSULA twice, 9-0 and 11-0. John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) became the Storm's first seven-game winner after tossing his second consecutive complete game. Kris Kaplan (Las Vegas, NV/Cimarron Memorial) and Tyler Blair (Henderson, NV/Green Valley) each hit a pair of home runs, including a grand slam for Kaplan. The Storm also had their largest run-scoring inning this year, a 10-run fourth inning in game one.

STARTING ROTATION
The Dixie State starting pitcher quartet with a combined 19-6 record with a 3.81 ERA. Highlighting the rotation is Conquy, who has thrown consecutive complete games including a three-hit shutout last weekend. Conquy is 7-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 60 innings. Abrath is looking to bounce back from his shortest outing, 2.2 innings against CSULA. The Christoffersen brothers – Kody Christoffersen and Kort Christoffersen – combined to throw seven shutout frames against the Golden Eagles.

STRONG BULLPEN STAFF
Dixie State's pitching bullpen staff has been stellar in 2014. Leading the charge late in ballgames is the nation's number two in saves, junior right-hander Evan Parker. His 11 saves through 43 games have already set a Dixie State season record. Parker has allowed only two earned runs on 10 hits in 18.2 IP. He has notched saves in seven of his last nine appearances. Matt Hill, Bubba Blau (Roy, UT/Roy) and Taylor Stone have been dominant in the innings leading up to the ninth.

OFFENSIVE LEADERS
Redshirt freshman Trey Kamachi still leads the DSU offense after earning consecutive PacWest Newcomer of the Week honors with a .378 batting average. Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, AZ/Desert Mountain) has been a steading force at the top of the lineup. McLaughlin has a 17-game on-base streak and a .351 season average. Power numbers this season has steadily come from the trio of senior first basemen Tyler Blair, junior DH Kevin Kline, and senior outfielder Kris Kaplan. Blair paces the squad with 16 doubles while Kline has 14. Kaplan leads the Red Storm with nine home runs, just a year removed from a junior season with no homers. The power trio has combined for 111 RBIs for the Storm.

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.

SURVEYING THE SEA LIONS
Point Loma is 20-21 on the season and 11-13 in the PacWest. PLNU has lost two consecutive road series at Fresno Pacific and California Baptist. Leading the offense is senior Tyler Nordgren with a .356 batting average, 15 doubles and 37 RBI. Senior shortstop Clinton Hardwick is hitting .352 while swiping 12 bases. Freshman Kellan Sheppard is 4-3 with a 2.59 ERA on the mound. Senior starter Garret Levsen has three complete games and leads PLNU with five wins. Five different pitchers have recorded a save. As a team, PLNU leads the PacWest with 169 walks and are second in extra base hits (53).

Print Friendly Version