Game Times (Mountain):
Sunday (DH) - PPD/Weather
Monday (DH) - 5 p.m.
Tuesday (DH) - 6 p.m.

Audio/Video: None
Live Stats: Dixie State Live Stats
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Base | #RollStorm | #PacWestBASE | #d2bsb
 
PROJECTED STARTERS:
Sunday (G1) – RHP Dylan File (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) (1-0, 2.32 ERA) vs. TBA
Sunday (G2) – RHP Mason Hilty (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) (4-0, 3.71 ERA) vs. TBA
Monday (G3) – RHP Preston Hannay (Murray, Utah/Murray HS) (2-0, 4.32 ERA) vs. TBA
Tuesday (G4) – RHP Jeremy Alderman (Cheney, Wash./Cheney HS) (1-1, 1.80 ERA) vs. TBA

FIRST PITCH: No. 25 Dixie State (13-5/1-3 PacWest) looks to get back to its winning ways as the Storm embark on their longest road trip of the season, an eight-game trek, to the Bay Area for a pair of Pacific West Conference series.  
    DSU opens the trip with a four-game set at Academy of Art (7-10/2-1 PacWest) this Sunday-through-Tuesday, which will be played at Laney College in Oakland, Calif. Dixie State will then wrap up the road swing with a four-game series at Holy Names (4-13/2-2 PacWest; pending the outcome a weekend series at California Baptist) March 17-19, in Alameda, Calif.

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State opened PacWest play on a sour note as the conference co-favorite Storm dropped three of four at home to fellow co-favorite California Baptist at Bruce Hurst Field. DSU lost a heartbreaker in the opener, 5-4 (10 inn.), and were on the wrong end of a pair of lopsided losses (12-2 in G2/13-5 in G4), which were sandwiched around the Storm's lone win in the series, a 5-4 result in eight innings in game three.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Dixie State owns a 36-4 record against Academy of Art through the first seven years of the series. DSU has won six-straight and 18 of its last 20 overall vs. the Urban Knights, and is 14-2 all-time vs. AAU on the road.
    DSU is 11-1 in its brief three-year series vs. Holy Names, having won nine-straight vs. the Hawks, including a 4-0 mark against HNU on the road.

COACHING STAFF: Two-time Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year Chris Pfatenhauer is in his fourth season as head coach of the Dixie State Baseball program. Pfatenhauer has led the Storm to consecutive PacWest titles (2014/2015) and three-straight trips (four-straight overall) to the NCAA West Regionals, including serving as the host institution in 2013. Pfatenhauer, who won his 100th-game at DSU last season in a 2-1 victory over Cal Poly Pomona at the NCAA regionals, owns a 113-58 (.661) overall record at DSU, including a 74-30 (.711) record in PacWest play.
    Joining Pfatenhauer (UNLV, 2000) in the Storm dugout this season is first-year pitching coach Michael Gargano (Walden University, 2013), along with second-year assistant coaches Matt Hill (Dixie State 2015), and Bobby Rinard (Arizona, 2014), and first-year assistant coach Patrick Perry (Northern Colorado, 2013).

STORM PICKED AS PACWEST CO-FAVORITES: Dixie State was chosen as a preseason co-favorite to once again win the 2016 Pacific West Conference title according to annual preseason coaches' poll released Jan. 27. The two-time defending PacWest champions received two first place votes to finish with 88 points in the poll. DSU is tied atop the poll with California Baptist, which collected 88 points and six first place nods, followed by Azusa Pacific in third with two first place votes and 78 points. Point Loma (66 points) was tabbed to finish fourth and Fresno Pacific (63 points) was selected fifth to round out the top-half of the poll.
    Dixie State also landed two players on the PacWest Preseason all-Conference team in senior shortstop Tanner Morache (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada/Surrey HS) and junior second baseman Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS).

WE'RE GOING STREAKING: Not only is Dixie State looking to win its third-straight PacWest crown in 2016, the Storm is also hoping to keep its NCAA postseason streak alive as well. DSU has made four-straight NCAA regional appearances, which is currently the longest active streak in the West Region.

DSU IN THE POLLS: As a result of DSU losing its home series vs. CBU last weekend, the Storm fell in the weekly national and regional rankings, which were release earlier this week. DSU fell 13 spots to #25 in the latest Collegiate Baseball Newspaper top-30 poll, and went from #9 to not even ranked in this week's National College Baseball Writers of America (NCBWA) top-25 poll.
    Dixie State also fell three spots to #5 in the NCBWA West Region poll, while the new D2BaseballNews.com top-25 had not yet been released.

HOME SWEET HOME: Despite the CBU series loss, DSU opened its 2016 home slate with an 11-3 record and currently owns a 192-83 (.698) mark inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field since becoming an NCAA Division II program in 2006-07, with seven-straight winning seasons at home overall. The Storm has posted five 20-plus win seasons over that span, including a program-best 26 wins (26-7) in 2009, and a 22-5 (.814) record under Coach Pfatenhauer in 2014.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Dixie State has also held its own on the road as well, having played to a 99-92 overall record (.518) through its first nine-plus years of D-II competition, including a 2-2 start this season, with five-straight winning seasons. Last year the Storm went a program-best 15-5 on the road (.750) and has won at least 10 road games in six-straight seasons overall.
    When you figure in neutral-site games (3-6 in nine games), DSU is 102-98 (.510) all-time away from Bruce Hurst Field in NCAA play.

IT'S DEEP AND I DON'T THINK IT'S PLAYABLE: Dixie State has homered 11 times this season, including a pair of home runs over the weekend vs. CBU. In fact, all 11 Storm home runs have been hit at Bruce Hurst Field, with a season-high three homers coming vs. Saint Martin's (2/2).
    Senior SS Tanner Morache (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada/Surrey HS) hit arguably one of the most memorable home runs in program history with his walk-off grand slam in the 10th-inning of DSU's 9-6 win vs. SMU.
    Morache's slam marked the first time since the 2010 season that DSU won a game on a walk-off homer and it was the first walk-off grand slam in DSU's D-II era. Former OF Brett Adams had the last Storm walk-off homer, which came in a 9-8 home win over PacWest rival California Baptist (3/31/10).
    Prior to Morache, the last Storm player to record a grand slam was senior 1B Sam Hall, who hit one last season in a 10-6 home win vs. Academy of Art (3-28-15).   

FROM POLE TO POLE: Junior CF/RF Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, Hawai'i/Kapolei HS) saw his career-high 18-game hitting streak snapped in the opener vs. CBU ... prior to that outing he had at least one base hit in all 14 games this season and the final four games of the 2015 campaign ... Kamachi came back with two hits and a run scored in game two, and went 1-for-2 with a run scored in game three, but was held hitless in the finale ... he is second on the team in hitting at .394 with one HR, seven RBI and 14 runs scored ... he also leads the team in sacrifices (10) and is 5-of-6 in the stolen base department.
    Junior CF Jerome Hill II (Pittsburg, Calif./Pittsburg HS) started in two of the four games of the CBU series and went a combined 1-for-6 with a triple, stolen base and three runs scored.
    Junior LF/DH Ryan Rodriguez (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago HS) recorded a base hit in three of four games vs. CBU and reached base safely in all four starts ... went 2-for-5 in the finale with his first HR of the year, a solo shot in the seventh, with two runs scored ... Rodriguez has hit safely in seven of his last eight games overall with five multi-hit efforts and owns a .370 batting average heading into this weekend's action.
    Junior OF Miles Bice (Henderson, Nev./Coronado HS) played in all four games vs. CBU with three starts ... picked up a base hit in all four games, including a pair of two-hit outings in games one and four ... reached on a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning of game three and scored the game-winning run ... drove home two runs on a bloop hit in the finale ... Bice has hit safely in five-straight games and owns a .368 batting average.
    Junior reserve OF Trey Reineke (Aurora, Colo./Smoky Hill HS) started in the opener vs. CBU and went 1-for-3 overall with two stolen bases in the series ... that one hit was a big one as he drove a 3-2 pitch through the right side of the infield with the bases loaded and two outs to bring home the winning run for the walk-off win in game three.

AROUND THE HORN: Freshman INF/DH Bryce Feist (Emmett, Idaho/Rocky Mountain HS) started in two games vs. CBU and went a combined 2-for-7 with a run scored.  
    Sophomore Hayes Hall (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) started at 3B in three of four games vs. CBU ... went 2-for-11 combined and picked up an RBI in game three.
    Senior SS Tanner Morache (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada/Surrey HS) hit .437 (7-for-16) in the CBU series with two doubles and a run scored ... collected two base hits in each of the final three games in the series, including two doubles in game two ... has hit safely in seven-straight and in 16 of 18 games thus far this season with nine multi-hit games out of the lead-off spot ... he leads the team in hitting with a .419 batting average and a team-high 17 RBI.
    Junior 2B Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS) went a combined 3-for-17 with an RBI and run scored vs. CBU, including a two-hit outing in the finale ... currently batting .365 with 16 RBI, a team-high three home runs and is second on the club in stolen bases with five.
    Senior 1B Sam Hall hit .400 (4-of-10) in three starts vs. CBU with a double, two RBI and a run scored ... also picked up two walks to pad his team/PacWest lead to 12 on the year ... currently hitting .322 with one homer and 11 RBI.
    Sophomore DH Cam Gust (Riverton, Utah/Riverton HS) started in the first two games vs. CBU and went 3-for-7 combined with three RBI and a run scored ... started at first base in the opener and collected two hits, including a two-run home run in the sixth inning ... drove home a run on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in game three and drew a walk in a pinch-hit plate appearance in the finale. 

THE BACKSTOPS: Junior catcher Reece Lucero (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva HS) was held hitless in seven ABs in the CBU series ... is currently hitting .270 in 14 games with one home run, eight RBI and six runs scored.
    Sophomore Jake Davison (Taylorsville, Utah/Taylorsville HS) started game three vs. CBU and went 1-for-3 with an RBI ... also came off the bench in games one and four.
    Freshman Tanner Harper (Paul, Idaho/Minico HS) made his season debut in game two and went 1-for-2 with a single and caught the final three innings. 

ROTATION NOTES: Sophomore RHP Dylan File (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) (1-0) started the opener vs. CBU but did not figure into the decision in DSU's 5-4 extra-inning loss ... he posted another solid outing as he pitched into the eighth inning and limited CBU to five hits and two runs while punching out five.
    Sophomore LHP Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, Idaho/Highland HS) (2-1) suffered his first loss of the year in a start in game two vs. CBU ... surrendered five runs (two earned) on five hits with a strikeout in 2.2 IP.
    Junior RHP Mason Hilty (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) (4-0) got the start in game three vs. CBU but did not figure in the decision ... tied a season-high with eight strikeouts and scattered six hits and four runs (three earned) in 6.1 IP ... outside of a fourth-inning hiccup (5H/4R), he held CBU to just one hit over 5.1 scoreless innings.
    Senior RHP Chance Abrath (Salt Lake City, Utah/West HS) (1-1) started the finale vs. CBU and gave up four runs on five hits in 2.2 innings.

CALL TO THE PEN: Junior reliever Sean Hardman (Pleasant Grove, Utah/American Fork HS) picked up his first victory of the season in game three vs. CBU ... senior LHP Kolton Brost (Mona, Utah/Payson HS) struck out six in 2.2 IP vs. CBU spanning three appearances ... DSU relievers combined for 16 strikeouts in 17.1 innings of work on the weekend.

TEAM NOTES: Entering play this weekend, Dixie State leads the nation in sacrifice bunts with 27 through 18 games ... DSU hit .295 in the CBU series (39-of-132) and continues to lead the PacWest and is ranked #28-nationally in team batting average at .330 ... DSU has reached double figures in hits in 12 of 18 games this season, including nine of 14 games at Bruce Hurst Field, and three of four road games ... DSU has posted four 15-hit games and collected a season-high 17 safeties in game three vs. Cal State San Bernardino (2/6/16) ... Dixie State's pitching staff enters this weekend fourth in the PacWest in opponent's BA (.254) and fifth in team ERA (3.88) ... DSU is 30-for-34 (.882) in stolen bases through 14 games, including a 5-for-6 effort last weekend. 

UP NEXT: After a week off, Dixie State will open an eight-game PacWest homestand at Bruce Hurst Field to close out the month of March and ring in April. DSU will host Hawai'i Hilo for four games March 28-29, followed by a four-game set vs. Fresno Pacific March 31-April 2.