No. 10 Dixie State saw its 2016 season come to a close as the Trailblazers were eliminated from the NCAA Division II West Regional tournament by No. 8 California Baptist Saturday night in Riverside, Calif. Second-seeded DSU (40-14) defeated sixth-seed Cal State Monterey Bay in an afternoon elimination game, 7-4, before dropping an 8-6 decision its Pacific West Conference rivals in the nightcap. Top-seeded CBU advances on to face third-seed Cal Poly Pomona on Monday, with the Lancers needing to defeat CPP twice to advance to the upcoming NCAA Division II World Series.

Dixie State 7, Cal State Monterey Bay 4 (Postgame Press Briefing - Video)

Dixie State jumped on the Otters early as the Trailblazers tallied four runs over their first two offensive innings to race out to a quick 4-0 lead. DSU plated three runs in the first thanks in part to a two-run double from Samuel Hall (Ogden, Utah/Bonneville HS) that scored Tanner Morache (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada/Surrey HS) and Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS), who reached on a single and double respectively, to lead off the game. Hall then came around to score later in the frame on a Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, Hawai'i/Kapolei HS) squeeze-bunt, while McLaughlin picked up his second run scored in as many innings in the second as he reached on a two-out walk and came home on a Ryan Rodriguez (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago HS) single.

CSUMB got on the board with a single run in the third, and after DSU got that run back in the fourth, the Otters answered with two more runs in the home half of the frame on a Myles Hager two-run home run to left field to cut the DSU lead to 5-3.

The Trailblazers maintained their two-run advantage until the seventh when Miles Bice (Henderson, Nev./Coronado HS) and Kamachi connected for consecutive RBI-doubles to extend the lead to 7-3. The Otters would pick up another run in the eighth, but that would be as close as CSUMB would get as Dixie State closer Spencer Greer (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville HS) (S, 9) retired the Otters in order in the ninth to wrap up the win.

Dixie State pounded out a team tournament-high 11 hits in avenging its Thursday first round loss to the Otters. Eight of DSU's nine starters had at least one hit, led by McLaughlin who finished with three hits and three runs scored, while Hall collected two hits to go with his two RBI. Junior reliever Tyler Burdett (Las Vegas, Nev./Sierra Vista HS) (W, 1-0) tossed 2.2 innings of shutout relief to pick up his first win of the season. Sophomore lefthander Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, Idaho/Highland HS) (ND) started the game and scattered four hits and three runs with three strikeouts over 4.1 innings of work.

California Baptist 8, Dixie State 6 (Postgame Press Briefing - Video)

CBU never trailed as the Lancers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two complete innings of play. The Lancers started the game with consecutive singles off of DSU starter Kolton Brost (Mona, Utah/Payson HS) (L, 3-1), though Brost looked as if he would escape the inning without giving up a run after he induced a 5-3 double play to get the first two outs of the opening frame, However CBU's Antonio Chavarria had other ideas as he battled Brost through a nine-pitch at bat, which the Lancer slugger eventually won with a two-run home run to right field which staked CBU to a 2-0 lead.

The Trailblazers struck back in the third inning with three runs of their own which came on a wild pitch and a towering two-run blast to right field by Hall to tie the game at 3-3. California Baptist would answer with another long ball in the fourth as Lancer lead-off hitter Bryce Macy connected for his fourth homer of the regional, a two-run shot to right field, to put CBU back on top at 5-3.

DSU got one of the runs back in the fifth when Mildenberg legged out a one-out stand-up triple down the right field line and scored one batter later on a Morache sacrifice fly to trim the deficit to 5-4.

CBU would once again counter in the home half of the fifth as the Lancers loaded the bases with no outs, which chased Brost from the game. DSU reliever Preston Hannay (Murray, Utah/Murray HS) came on and induced a potential double-play ground ball on the infield, but the play was mishandled, which led to another Lancer run with the bases still loaded. CBU would end up plating three runs in the stanza to extend its lead to 8-4 through five complete.

Dixie State mounted one more charge in the sixth as Hall reached on a lead-off error and Rodriguez drew a nine-pitch walk which brought up Bice, who singled up the middle to plate Hall to cut the Lancer lead to 8-5. DSU then pushed across another run two batters later on a Jerome Hill II (Pittsburg, Calif./Pittsburg HS) ground out to pull to within two runs at 8-6, but that would be as close as the Trailblazers would get at Lancer reliever Stephen Carabajal (S, 2) came on and retired 10-straight DSU hitters over the final 3.1 innings to close out the game.

DSU was held to just five hits in the nightcap, with Hall and Mildenberg each finishing with two hits apiece.

GAME NOTES: Dixie State finished 2016 with an NCAA Division II-era record 40 victories ... Hall was named to the West Region all-Tournament team after he batted .437 (7-for-16) with two doubles, one HR, four RBI and four runs scored in the four games ... DSU moved to 7-10 all-time in its five appearances at the NCAA West Regionals ... Dixie State is now 321-182 (.638) through 10 full seasons of NCAA D-II play.