No. 10/13 Dixie State baseball recorded its first road win of the 2016 season Saturday with a split of a road doubleheader at No. 3/3 Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction. The Mavericks (8-2) picked up their second walk-off win of the series with a 5-4 win in the opener, while DSU (11-2) outslugged CMU for a 6-5 triumph in the nightcap.

CMU struck first in the opener with two runs in the third on a two-run single from Bligh Madris off of Storm starter Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, Idaho/Highland HS) (ND).

Trailing 3-0 in the seventh, the DSU offense came to life as the Storm plated three runs on three hits and a Maverick error in the inning to knot the score at 3-3. Senior shortstop Tanner Morache (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada/Surrey HS) singled home the first run of the rally, and following a sacrifice from junior outfielder Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, Hawai'i/Kapolei HS), infielders Drew McLaughin and Sam Hall struck for consecutive two-out, RBI-singles to draw DSU even.

Colorado Mesa reclaimed the lead an inning later after a one-out Storm throwing error brought around the go-ahead run to give CMU a 4-3 lead heading to the ninth.

Morache led off the DSU ninth with an infield single and would advance to third on a pair of infield outs. Junior LF Ryan Rodriguez (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago HS) then stepped up and laced a 2-2 pitch down the left field line to drive home Morache and tie the game at 4-4.

However the Storm could not bring Rodriguez around to score and the Mavericks would capitalize in their final at-bat as Trevor Elcock connected for a one-out double off DSU reliever Spencer Greer (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville HS) (L, 1-2). CMU catcher Kyle Serrano then ended the game with a double to drive home Elcock with the winning run.

DSU finished with 11 hits in the opener, including two hits apiece for Kamachi, McLaughlin and Rodriguez as the Storm 1-5 hitters combined to go 9-for-22 with four RBI. Pope worked 4.1 innings and struck out five, but was touched up for three runs on eight hits.

Dixie State bolted out of the gate in the finale with three runs in its first at-bat. The Storm loaded the bases with one out in the frame and cashed the opportunity in with a Rodriguez RBI-single, while Cam Gust (Riverton, Utah/Riverton HS) was hit by a pitch to bring home a run, and Hayes Hall (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) drove home the third run of the frame on a sacrifice fly.

After DSU starter Mason Hilty (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) pitched a scoreless first inning, Sam Hall extended the Storm lead to 5-0 with a two-run double to center field in the second.

CMU answered with a run in the home half of the second and cut the lead to 5-3 in fourth on a two-run home run off the bat of James Young III. DSU countered with an unearned run in the fifth thanks to a two-out Maverick error and back-to-back from Hayes Hall (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) and Jake Davison (Taylorsville, Utah/Taylorsville HS), who drove home Gust to push the Storm lead to 6-3.

That insurance run proved to be crucial for DSU's chances of a split as the Mavericks tallied two more runs in the their half of the fifth to pull to within a run at 6-5.

However that would be as close as CMU would get as junior reliever Sean Hardman (Pleasant Grove, Utah/American Fork HS) (S, 2) fanned three and retired six of the seven batters he faced over the final two innings of play to close out the game.

DSU outhit CMU in the finale 10-8, with Sam Hall collecting a pair of doubles (three on the day), while McLaughlin and Rodriguez had two hits apiece. Hilty (W, 4-0) allowed five runs on eight hits in five innings with seven strikeouts to earn his fourth victory of the season.

The Storm and Mavericks will wrap up their four-game series with a single game on Sunday beginning at 12 noon.