No. 17 Dixie State Red Storm (32-17, 22-6 PacWest)
vs. Point Loma Sea Lions (31-14, 17-11 PacWest)
May 1-2, 2015
Bruce Hurst Field - St. George, Utah
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Game Times (Mountain):
Friday (DH) - 4 p.m., 7 p.m.
Saturday (DH) - 11 a.m., 2 p.m.
Video:Â SouthernUtahLive.com
Live Stats:Â Dixie State Live Stats
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | #DixieBase
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The Dixie State baseball team begins the final series of the regular season beginning Friday afternoon, May 1, hosting Point Loma. First pitch of a Pacific West Conference doubleheader is set for 4 p.m. from Bruce Hurst Field. The Red Storm (32-17, 22-6 PacWest) has a one-game lead over California Baptist in the race for the PacWest title. Dixie State can control its own league destiny this weekend. PLNU, currently on a four-game skid, makes only its second-ever trip to St. George.
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DIXIE STATE PROJECTED STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – Dylan File (St. George, UT/Desert Hills); 5-1, 3.17 ERA
Friday (G2) – Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, ID/Highland); 3-3, 3.71 ERA
Saturday (G1) – Porter Clayton (Idaho Falls, ID/Bonneville); 5-4, 5.243 ERA
Saturday (G2) – TBD
TICKET PRICES AND BALLPARK RULES
General admission tickets to all regular-season home games at Bruce Hurst Field are $7. Senior fans over the age of 65 are admitted in general admission for $4, youth aged 13-17 are $1 and children aged 12 or younger are free. Dixie State faculty and staff may purchase general admission for up to two people per ID card for $2 each. Students are admitted FREE with valid identification. Dixie State Athletics does accept he Dixie Direct Card 2-for-1 general admission. Dogs and other pets are no longer allowed at Bruce Hurst Field, nor are coolers. No outside food or beverage will be admitted. DSU Dining Services will have a concession stand open with a selection of grilled food items, snacks and beverages. Bruce Hurst Field and the campus of DSU are alcohol and tobacco free zones.
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PARKING INFO
Parking is free in the lot to the north of the main gate. We advise fans not to park in the lot adjacent to the first base side seats due to a high risk of foul ball damage, in which the school and athletic department are not liable.
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FOLLOW LIVE
All DSU home games at Bruce Hurst Field feature a live online video stream and live stats. The broadcasts are courtesy of SouthernUtahLive.com, featuring a multi-camera setup and replays. The video feed is $7.95. Some road contests will also have video and/or audio. All have live stats. Fans can access live coverage for home and away dates from the Dixie State schedule page. Starting lineups, live between-inning updates and other game day news and notes can be found by following Dixie State Athletics on Twitter (@DixieAthletics).
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DSU vs. PLNU – BY THE NUMBERS
Dixie State is fourth in the PacWest in team batting average (.289), seventh in ERA (4.37) and first in fielding percentage (.973). Point Loma is sixth in the PacWest in hitting (.262), second in ERA (3.27) and second in fielding (.969).
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STORM RANKINGS
NCAA West Region: 5th
NCBWA: 2nd in the West, 17th nationally
D2Baseball.com: 4th in the West
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WEEKEND IN REVIEW
Dixie State split a PacWest series last weekend at Azusa Pacific, a team below the Storm in the league standing but ahead of DSU in the official NCAA West Region rankings. Tanner Morache (Surrey, Canada/Surrey) led off the series with a home run. Dixie State needed a comeback effort in game one to win 8-7 in 12 innings. The Cougars exploded offensively for 39 hits in Friday's doubleheader to take a pair of games. DSU shook off early troubles in the series finale and won 8-5 behind the pitching of Porter Clayton (Idaho Falls, ID/Bonneville), Jeremy Alderman (Cheney, WA/Cheney), Kolton Brost (Monsa, UT/Payson) and Evan Parker (Ogden, UT/Bonneville).
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WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH
There are many reasons why Dixie State baseball leads the PacWest and is in the conversation to make the postseason. Most of those reasons deal with the Storm's ability to produce when they need to late in close games. The Red Storm are 6-3 in one-run games and 5-3 in two-run games this season. In addition, Dixie State has lost only once in four extra innings games and are 4-0 in shutouts.
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SACRIFICING FOR THE TEAM
Dixie State is third in the nation with 61 team sacrifice bunts and infielder Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, AZ/Desert Mountain) continues to top all of Division II with 19 sac bunts.
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DOUBLE DIGIT WIN STREAKS
This season, DSU baseball has used two double-digit win streaks to accounts for its 25 wins. After starting the season with seven losses, the Storm began a 12-game string with a home win over Colorado Mesa on Feb. 15. Dixie State followed with sweeps of Montana State Billings, Minot State and Hawaii Hilo before dropping the final game of a four-game series at Hawaii Pacific on March 15. Following the HPU loss, 13 consecutive wins followed beginning with sweeps of Holy Names, Academy of Art and Fresno Pacific.
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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 97 coaching wins and needs just three 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 comes from Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii and Idaho while single players hail from California and Washington.
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LOOKING AT THE SEA LIONS
Point Loma enters this week losing four straight games to CBU and seven of the last eight games overall. PLNU sits in third place in the PacWest, five games behind Dixie State. The Sea Lions are 18-9 at home and 13-5 on the road, including a win against UCSD at Triton Stadium in February. Three of the four pitchers in the starting rotation – Kellen Sheppard, Eric Pierce, Trevor Abshire – have ERAs less than four while Kevin Lillicrop sits with a 4.01 ERA. Sheppard has been the ace of the PLNU staff with 56 strikeouts in 75.2 innings. At the back end of the staff, Coleman Huntley has 12 saves, the most in the PacWest. Point Loma is hitting .262 with 13 total homeruns. A.J. Derr leads the Sea Lions with a .350 average. Devin Carter has six home runs and Ryan Garcia leads the club with 34 runs batted in. Joe Schaefer is the head coach, in his eighth season.
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SERIES HISTORY
Through 10 games in the al-time series, Dixie State and Point Loma are both 5-5. Last year, Dixie State claimed three out of four games on the road, securing the Pacific West Conference Championship. In the Sea Lions' lone visit to St. George in 2013, the team's split a PacWest series. PLNU took the first two meetings back in 2010, when they were the No. 2 team in the NAIA national rankings.
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UP NEXTÂ
Dixie State's fate is uncertain past the regular season finale this weekend. If the Red Storm remains in the top six of the NCAA West Region rankings, they will travel to the NCAA Regional beginning May 14 at home field of the top-seeded team.
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