Azusa Pacific scored five runs over the final four innings of play to come back and defeat No. 13 Dixie State in the first game of a four-game Pacific West Conference series Thursday night at Bruce Hurst Field. The loss dropped the Trailblazers to 30-9 overall, 18-7 in PacWest play.

Dixie State led 3-1 after three complete innings, scoring a pair of runs in the first thanks to a two-out, two-run single from junior left fielder Ryan Rodriguez (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago HS). After the Cougars (19-16/14-7 PacWest) answered with a run in the second, the Trailblazers got the run back in the home half of the third when senior first baseman Samuel Hall (Ogden, Utah/Bonneville HS) singled through the right side to plate junior second baseman Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS), who reached on a lead-off single.

The Trailblazers added to their lead with another run in the fourth as senior shortstop Tanner Morache (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada/Surrey HS) won an eight-pitch duel with Cougar starter Joe Huthsing with an opposite-field base hit to bring home Miles Bice (Henderson, Nev./Coronado HS) to extend the advantage to 4-1.

Azusa Pacific came back with two unearned runs in the sixth to cut the deficit to 4-3, then Cougars took their first lead of the game in the seventh when Pablo O'Connor connected for a two-run home run off of sophomore hurler Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, Idaho/Highland HS) (L, 2-2), which staked APU to a 5-4 lead. APU would tally an insurance run on a wild pitch in the ninth, while Huthsing (W, 7-1) and two relievers limited DSU to just four hits over the final five innings to close out the game.

DSU lost despite outhitting APU 12-11, led by McLaughlin who finished with three hits and two runs scored. McLaughlin's three-hit night also pulled him into a tie atop Dixie State's career hits list with former DSU infielder Colton Yack (2010-13) with 192 career hits. Morache collected two hits to extend his hitting streak to nine games, while Rodriguez and Bice each picked up two safeties.

Pope, who saw his first action after missing more than a month due to injury, fanned three over 3.1 innings of relief but did surrender four hits and two earned runs (four total). Freshman Preston Hannay (Murray, Utah/Murray HS) (ND) started for DSU and allowed one run on six hits with two strikeouts in four innings of work.

Dixie State continues its series vs. Azusa Pacific with a doubleheader Friday beginning at 4 p.m., followed by the series finale Saturday at 12 noon.