Game Times (Mountain):
UHH Series: Tuesday (DH) – 8 p.m. | Wednesday (DH) – 8 p.m.
HPU Series: Saturday (DH) – 6 p.m. | Sunday (DH) 4 p.m.

Radio: None
Video: None
Live Stats: UHH Live Stats | HPU Live Stats
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | #DixieBase

Dixie State (5-7) will face a big test this week, traveling to Hawaii for the first road trip of the season and concurrently to open Pacific West Conference play. The Storm heads to the Big Island to play host Hawai'i Hilo on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 10-11, at Wong Stadium. DSU will then head to Oahu for a weekend set against the Sharks of Hawai'i Pacific at Hans L'Orange Park in Waipahu.
 
DIXIE STATE PROJECTED STARTERS:
UHH Series:
Tuesday – Porter Clayton (Idaho Falls, ID/Bonneville) and Tanner Howell (Boulder City, NV/Boulder City)
Wednesday – Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, ID/Highland) and Dylan File (St. George, UT/Desert Hills)
HPU Series:
Saturday – Chance Abrath (Salt Lake City, UT/West) and John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango)
Sunday – Porter Clayton (Idaho Falls, ID/Bonneville) and Tanner Howell (Boulder City, NV/Boulder City)

DIXIE STATE AGAINST HILO: Dixie State leads the all-time series, 32-13. The Storm swept the Vulcans at home last year in a four-game series outscoring UHH, 32-9. Dixie State has won eight of the last nine in the series. If the Storm were to sweep UHH in Hawaii, it would match the longest DSU winning streak all-time at eight games.
 
DIXIE STATE AGAINST HPU: Dixie State leads the all-time series, 28-23, but has struggled in Hawaii (11-15). The Storm has won five straight from the Sharks, including a four-game sweep last year at home.
 
FOLLOW LIVE
Limited coverage is available for the Storm's trip to Hawaii. UHH presently has no plans for video or live stats. HPU will have live stats – the link is available on the DSU Athletics home page and the baseball schedule page.
 
VULCANS HOPING TO ERUPT
Hawai'i Hilo will close out a 17-game home stretch with a midweek series against Dixie State. The Vulcans are 5-8 on the year and looking for their first series win. UHH took two games of a five-game series with Menlo College, split their PacWest opening set with Holy Names, and salvaged just one game most recently when Fresno Pacific visited Wong Stadium. Byron Freitas leads the Vulcans with a .413 batting average. Korin Medeiros (.375) and Edison Sakata (.304) follow as the only other players hitting above the .300-threshold. Jordan Kurokawa paces the Vulcan pitching staff with 21 strikeouts in 25.1 innings.
 
ENTERING THE SHARK TANK
Hawai'i Pacific is one of the hottest teams in Division II, currently on a nine-game winning streak. The Sharks are 11-2 and ranked fourth in the West in the most recent NCBWA poll. HPU has prime hitters and solid pitching to lead the way during their long home stretch to start the season. Like UHH, Hawai'i Pacific will hit the road following their set with DSU for the next 14 games. Derek Nakasato and Jordan Oshiro are both hitting over .400 for the year. The Sharks have 32 extra base hits in 13 games, none of which are home runs. Rico Garcia and Harley Holt has been the early aces for HPU, combining for five wins and 41 strikeouts in 35.2 innings.

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.
 
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) (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.
 
PFATE IN YEAR THREE
Head coach Chris Pfatenhauer 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.
 
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.

UP NEXT ... 
Dixie State returns home for an eight-game set in PacWest play against Holy Names and Academy of Art. The series with the Hawks begins Saturday, March 21, at 4 p.m.