Dixie State baseball took both ends of a Monday doubleheader at Pacific West Conference foe Academy of Art at nearby Laney College in Oakland, Calif. DSU (15-5/3-3 PacWest) rallied to double up the Urban Knights in the opener, 6-3, and got a dominant pitching performance from junior righthander Mason Hilty (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) in a 5-1 win in the nightcap.

AAU (7-12/2-3 PacWest) struck first in game one as the Urban Knights strung together a pair of hits and took advantage of a Storm error to race out to a 2-0 lead after one inning of play. AAU starter Brett Bovee (ND) made that lead stand up in the early going as he limited DSU to just one hit and two base runners through his first four innings of work.

Dixie State would solve Bovee in the fifth inning as the Storm pounded out five hits and plated three runs to take a 3-2 lead. Senior shortstop Tanner Morache (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada/Surrey HS) and junior outfielder Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, Hawai'i/Kapolei HS) each drove in runs on a pair singles, which were sandwiched around a run-scoring sacrifice fly by junior 2B Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS), to highlight the rally.

Sophomore righthander Dylan File (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) (W, 2-0) shook off his rough first inning as he limited the Urban Knights to just three hits over his next four innings, though AAU did manage to manufacture a run in the bottom of the sixth to knot the score at 3-3.

Dixie State had a chance to reclaim the lead in the seventh, loading the bases with two outs to chase Bovee from the game, but Knight reliever Cody Ball (L, 2-2) induced an inning-ending fly out to preserve the tie. However DSU would push through in the eighth as sophomore DH Cam Gust (Riverton, Utah/Riverton HS) led the frame off with his third home run of the season, a solo shot to right field, while Morache doubled home another run to stake the Storm to a 5-3 lead.

Kamachi then led the ninth inning off with a solo homer to left field to pad the Storm lead, while the DSU bullpen limited the Urban Knights to three hits over the final two innings to close out the game. Senior reliever Spencer Greer (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville HS) (S, 2) worked out of a two-out jam in the ninth to pick up his second save of the season.

DSU outhit AAU 12-10 in the opener, with Morache, Kamachi, Gust, junior catcher Reece Lucero (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva HS) and sophomore 3B Hayes Hall (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) collecting two hits apiece. File scattered two earned runs (three total) and seven hits over seven innings to earn his second victory of the year.

In game two, Dixie State scored single runs in three of the first four innings of play to jump out to a 3-0 lead after four complete. Senior 1B Samuel Hall (Ogden, Utah/Bonneville HS) got the Storm on the board in the opening frame when he doubled home Kamachi with the game's first run. DSU then played small ball as the Storm capitalized on an AAU error on a McLaughlin bunt that brought home Morache in the third stanza, then sophomore catcher Jake Davison (Taylorsville, Utah/Taylorsville HS) laid down a suicide-squeeze to plate junior outfielder Trey Reineke (Aurora, Colo./Smoky Hill HS) one inning later.

The early run support bolstered Hilty's (W, 5-0) best outing of the season. The junior hurled seven innings of four-hit shutout baseball with four strikeouts.

DSU would tack on a pair of insurance runs in the top half of the seventh on a wild pitch and a Gust RBI-single. Morache, McLaughlin and Gust each had two hits as DSU outhit AAU 9-6 in the finale.

The Storm and Urban Knights will wrap up their four-game series with another doubleheader on Tuesday beginning at 5 p.m. (PT).