Game Times (Mountain):
Friday (DH) – 4 p.m., 7 p.m.
Saturday (DH) - 11 a.m., 2 p.m.

Video: SouthernUtahLive.com
Live Stats:  Dixie State Live Stats
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | #DixieBase

The Dixie State (16-8, 11-1) baseball team continues PacWest Conference play this weekend when they host Academy of Art (5-20, 3-9) for a weekend series at Bruce Hurst Field. DSU enters its third week of PacWest play in first place after sweeping four games from Holy Names at home last weekend.
 
DIXIE STATE PROJECTED STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – Porter Clayton (Idaho Falls, ID/Bonneville); 3-2, 4.98 ERA
Friday (G2) – Dylan File (St. George, UT/Desert Hills); 2-1, 3.24 ERA
Saturday (G1) – Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, ID/Highland); 2-1, 2.73 ERA
Saturday (G2) – John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango); 2-0, 4.30 ERA

DIXIE STATE AGAINST ACADEMY OF ART: Dixie State leads the all-time series, 32-4. The Storm took three out of four games last season during a road trip to the Bay Area. DSU won the first 13 games from 2009-2011 and has subsequently posted seven and eight-game win streaks against ART U. At Bruce Hurst Field, Dixie State holds an 18-2 advantage.
 
FOLLOW LIVE
SouthernUtahLive.com will have video coverage from Bruce Hurst Field for the entire series. All four of Dixie State's games against HNU this week will feature live stats online, free of charge, here.

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
The Urban Knights enter the weekend with an overall record of 5-10 and 3-9 in the PacWest. Last weekend in conference play, Academy of Art was swept at home by Point Loma. The Knights have lost six straight and has not won a series this season. ART U split with California Baptist and los a single, non-league game to Sonoma State prior to its series with PLNU. With the bat, Academy of Art is hitting .220 as a team, ranked last in the PacWest. Joseph Marchini has started all 25 games for ART U and leads the team with a .293 average, 29 hits and 12 runs. On the mound, the Knights' staff has combined to post a 5.64 ERA, ranking last in the PacWest. Despite the numbers, senior RHP Nate Gercken is undoubtedly the staff ace and one of the top pitchers in the league. In eight starts, he has a 3-4 record and 1.67 ERA. He threw a four-hit shutout against CBU on March 12m striking out eight. Maclane Brady is the only other ART U pitcher to start in each of his appearances, going 2-4 with a 4.73 ERA in seven games.
 
WEEKEND IN REVIEW
The Red Storm opened its PacWest home schedule last weekend by winning all four games against the Holy Names Hawks at Bruce Hurst Field. On Saturday, DSU outscored the Hawks 8-7 in the final three innings of the first game. Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, AZ/Desert Mountain) went 3-for-4 with two RBI. In the second game, Tanner Morache (Surrey, Canada/Surrey) went 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBI, and Kevin Kline (Las Vegas, NV/Rancho) hit a two-run home run. On Sunday, nine different players drove in runs for the Red Storm, led by Kline's three RBI. Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, ID/Highland) extended his walk-less innings string to 26.1 innings and John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) shook off a rocky start to earn a win.

PFATE CLOSING IN ON 100 WINS IN YEAR THREE
Head coach Chris Pfatenhauer is closing in on his 100^th coaching victory as the DSU skipper. Entering this weekend, Pfatenhauer has 84 coaching wins and needs just 16 more victories to reach triple figures. He was named the 2014 Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year in just his second season at Dixie State by guiding the Red Storm to its third consecutive postseason appearance. Pfatenhauer has led DSU to a 68-34 overall record over the past two seasons, including a 49-19 mark in PacWest competition.

TOP-THREE FINISHES
Dixie State has finished among the top three in the PacWest Conference since becoming league members seven seasons ago (2008-2014), the only PacWest team to have done so. Under Chris Pfatenhauer, DSU won the league in 2014 and finished third in 2013 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.
 
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
Dixie State's 34-man roster features 11 seniors, 10 juniors, four sophomores and nine freshmen. The Storm is a geographically diverse team with eight U.S. states and two foreign countries (Canada, Japan) represented. Twelve players hail from Utah and 10 others from Nevada. A pair of players each come from Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii and Idaho while single players hail from California and Washington.

PRESEASON RANKS
Dixie State baseball was selected by the league's coaches to finish second behind California Baptist in the race for the 2015 PacWest title. Five players – Kevin Kline (Las Vegas, NV/Rancho), Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, HI/Kapolei), John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango), Yuto Kata (Chiba, Japan/Juan Diego (Utah)), Evan Parker (Ogden, UT/Bonneville) – earned spots on the Preseason All-PacWest team. In the NCBWA preseason vote, Dixie State ranked fourth in the West Region behind Chico State, UC San Diego and CBU. Kline, Kamachi and Conquy all took regional team recognitions. Conquy was also named to the NCBWA Preseason All-American Third Team.
 
UP NEXT ... 
Dixie State heads to the central valley of California for a Pacific West Conference test at Fresno Pacific from Thursday-Saturday, April 2-4, 2015.