No. 14 Dixie State broke its single-season record for victories as the Trailblazers picked up their 37^th win of the season in the night cap of a Saturday Pacific West Conference twin bill at Concordia University in Irvine, Calif. DSU (37-12/25-10 PacWest) saw a late lead slip away as the Eagles took the opener, 5-4, while the Trailblazers bounced back to claim the second game by a 9-2 count.

Concordia (21-28/17-18 PacWest) took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning off of DSU starter Mason Hilty (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) as the Eagles strung together three-straight one-out hits, capped by a three-run home run from John Bornhop. Hilty shook off the early hiccup as he retired the next 11 Eagles he faced and held Concordia to just two hits over his next 6.1 innings of work.

Meanwhile the Dixie State offense, which was limited to three hits through the first four innings, got on the board in the fifth when Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS) drove home a pair of runs on a two-out triple to right center to draw DSU to within a run at 3-2. The Trailblazers struck again for two more runs in the sixth as Miles Bice (Henderson, Nev./Coronado HS) singled in Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, Hawai'i/Kapolei HS) and Bryce Feist (Emmett, Idaho/Rocky Mountain HS) with two outs to give DSU its first lead of the day at 4-3.

The Eagles would solve Hilty in the eighth as CUI tied the game at 4-4 on a Spencer Nielsen RBI-single. Then after a two-out double from Bornhop chased Hilty from the game, Chad Whiteaker gave Concordia the lead back at 5-4 as he drove home Bornhop on a single up the middle. CUI reliever Garrett Kraemer (W, 3-1) then set the Trailblazers down in order in the ninth to end the game.

DSU finished with eight hits in the opener, led by Kamachi who went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. Hilty (L, 9-1) fanned seven but surrendered five runs and eight hits over 7.2 innings in suffering his first loss of the season after winning his first nine decisions.

Dixie State never trailed in the nightcap as the Trailblazers plated two runs in the second on a Tyler Mildenberg (Huntington Beach, Calif./Marina HS) RBI-single and a Tanner Morache (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada/Surrey HS) ground out. After the Eagles came back with an unearned run in the home half of the frame, DSU answered with runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth stanzas to extend its lead to 6-1. Reece Lucero (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva HS) drove in an unearned run in the fourth when he singled home Jerome Hill II (Pittsburg, Calif./Pittsburg HS), who reached on a one-out error, and Cam Gust (Riverton, Utah/Riverton HS) made it a three-run game when he connected for an RBI-single one inning later. Dixie State then got two more in the sixth when Morache doubled in Lucero, then Trey Reineke (Aurora, Colo./Smoky Hill HS) brought Morache around with a base hit two batters later.

DSU lefthander Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, Idaho/Highland HS) (W, 3-2) made the lead stand up as he limited the Eagles to just two hits through five innings, though CUI got a run back on a Nielsen home run off of Pope in the sixth. Then after the Eagles got another baserunner on a one-out DSU error, junior reliever Jose Rosales-Rodarte (Las Vegas, Nev./Spring Valley HS) came on to get a strikeout and groundout to end the frame.

Dixie State would put the game away with three more runs in the seventh thanks to an RBI-single from Jake Davison (Taylorsville, Utah/Taylorsville HS) and a McLaughlin two-RBI hit.

DSU outhit the Eagles 12-3 in the finale, led by McLaughlin and Lucero who collected two hits apiece. Pope scattered three hits and struck out three in 5.1 innings to earn his third win of the season.

Dixie State will wrap up its 2016 regular season slate in the series finale at Concordia Sunday at Eagles Field beginning at 12 noon (PDT).

GAME NOTES: After seeing his 16-game hitting streak halted in the series opener Friday, Morache picked up hits in both games Saturday and has now hit safely in 45 of 49 games this season ... Morache has also reached base safely in 38-straight games and in 47 of 49 games this year ... DSU's previous school record for wins in the NCAA D-II era was 36 set in 2014 (36-17).