No. 17 Dixie State Red Storm (20-8, 15-1 PacWest)
at Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (20-10, 8-8 PacWest)
April 2-4, 2015
FPU Diamond | Fresno, Calif.
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Game Times (Mountain):
Thursday – 7 p.m.
Friday (DH) - 5 p.m., 8 p.m.
Saturday – 12 noon
Video:Â None
Live Stats:Â Â Fresno Pacific Live Stats
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | #DixieBase
The NCBWA No. 17 Dixie State (20-8, 15-1) baseball team will make their second conference road trip of the season when they travel to the central valley of California to take on the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (20-10, 8-8). The Red Storm are 8-0 on the road in 2015 and will look to continue their strong play against a very good FPU squad. DSU have won their last six overall series, which includes victories in 20 of their last 21 games. Last weekend, the Dixie State offense blew past Academy of Art in a four-game sweep at Bruce Hurst Field.
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DIXIE STATE PROJECTED STARTERS:
Thursday – Dylan File (St. George, UT/Desert Hills); 3-1, 2.10 ERA
Friday (G1) – Porter Clayton (Idaho Falls, ID/Bonneville); 4-2, 5.03 ERA
Friday (G2) – John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango); 3-0, 4.12 ERA
Saturday – Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, ID/Highland); 2-1, 2.81 ERA
DIXIE STATE AGAINST FRENSO PACIFIC:Â Dixie State and Fresno Pacific have each won four of the previous eight meetings between the two schools. In 2013, the Sunbirds took three out of four at home. Last season, the Red Storm returned the favor by winning the first three games at Hurst before FPU exploded for 15 runs in the finale.
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FOLLOW LIVE
Fresno Pacific offers live stats online, free of charge, here.
SCOUTING THE SUNBIRDS
The Sunbirds enter the week with a 20-10 overall record and 8-8 mark in PacWest play. Last weekend, FPU split a league series at California Baptist. They began as one of the hottest teams in the country, getting to the top spot regionally in the NCBWA writers' poll after taking three out of four from Chico State, the defending West Region champion, and sweeping San Francisco State. But a tough sweep at the hands of Hawaii Pacific led to a 3-5 swing in islands. Since then, FPU took three of four from both UH Hilo and Azusa Pacific and swept past Cal State East Bay in non-league play. With the bat, Fresno Pacific is hitting .263 as a team, ranked seventh in the PacWest. Scott Preston is an all-around hitting threat - .379 average, .612 slugging, four homeruns and 28 RBI (all team highs). Michael Tittle (.311) and Michael Hostetler (.301) are also over the .300-mark for FPU. On the mound, the Knights' staff has combined to post a 3.41 ERA, second best in the PacWest. Wilson Ashford is the statistical ace throught seven starts. He has a 5-1 record, 2.02 ERA and batters hit .226 against him. As a combined staff, opponents are only hitting .239 overall. The bullpen is strong led by the one-two punch of Josh Medeles and Kyle Rasmussen. They are 6-2 out of the pen and have allowed 10 runs in 58.2 innings.
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WEEKEND IN REVIEW
The Red Storm continued its PacWest home schedule last weekend by winning all four games against the Urban Knights of ART U at Bruce Hurst Field. On Saturday, Yuto Kata (Chiba, Japan/Juan Diego (Utah)) and Zach Watts (West Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) provided some pop at the bottom of the lineup in the first game, combining for three extra-base hits and nine RBI. Kevin Kline (Las Vegas, NV/Rancho) and Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, HI/Kapolei) each drove in a pair in the second game. Dylan File (St. George, UT/Desert Hills) tossed a two-hitter, striking out six. Dixie State finished off its four-game sweep of Academy of Art on Saturday when Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, AZ/Desert Mountain) went 5-for-7 with five RBI and five runs scored on the day.Â
STORM RANKINGS
NCBWA: 2nd in the West, 17th nationally
D2Baseball.com: 4th in the West
PerfectGame.org: 23rd nationally
College Baseball Newspaper: 30th nationally
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PFATE CLOSING IN ON 100 WINS IN YEAR THREE
Head coach Chris Pfatenhauer is closing in on his 100th coaching victory as the DSU skipper. Entering this weekend, Pfatenhauer has 88 coaching wins and needs just 12 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.
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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.
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UP NEXT ...Â
Dixie State returns home for a four-game series with the California Baptist Lancers beginning Thursday, April 9. The series will spread over three days with single games on Thursday and Saturday paired with a doubleheader on Friday.Â
