No. 13 Dixie State opened its pivotal eight-game Pacific West Conference Hawaiian road swing with a split of a Saturday doubleheader at Hawai'i Pacific at Hans L'Orange Park. The Trailblazers (30-10/19-7 PacWest) cruised to an 11-4 win in game one before dropping a hard-fought 2-1 decision to the Sharks (17-27/7-25 PacWest) in the nightcap.

In game one, Dixie State's offense showed little rust after a 14-day break between games as the Trailblazers pounded out three first-inning hits and took advantage of two Shark errors en route to a quick 5-0 lead. Logan Porter (Surprise, Ariz./Valley Vista HS) delivered the big blow of the frame with his team-leading eighth home run of the season, a three-run blast to left field that got DSU on the board. Tyler Mildenberg (Huntington Beach, Calif./Marina HS) followed with a triple, then came home one batter later on a Jake Davison (Taylorsville, Utah/Taylorsville HS) double, who himself would come around to score on a Wyatt Branch (Stansbury Park, Utah/Stansbury HS) groundout.

The Trailblazers struck for two more runs in the fourth inning to extend to a 7-0 edge. Branch singled to lead off the frame, which was followed by a two-run homer off the bat of Trey Reineke (Aurora, Colo./Smoky Hill HS), his fourth of the season overall.

Junior starter Dylan File (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) made the early runs stand up as he retired nine of the first 10 Sharks he faced. However HPU would threaten in the fourth when Sharks strung together a walk and two singles to load the bases with no outs, but File limited HPU to just one run as he induced a pair of fly outs and a groundout to end the threat.

Dixie State got that run back and more in the fifth as the Trailblazers tacked on four more runs to race out to an 11-1 advantage. Davison collected his second RBI-double of the game to drive in Mildenberg, who was hit by a pitch with one out to start the rally. Then after a Miles Bice (Henderson, Nev./Coronado HS) single and a Jerome Hill II (Pittsburg, Calif./Pittsburg HS) walk loaded the bases, Reineke drew a free pass to force in a run, while Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS) singled home another run and a Tyler Baker (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman HS) run-scoring fly out gave DSU a double-digit lead.

File (W, 7-1), who struck out three in six solid innings, held HPU to just two hits over his final two innings of work to earn his seventh victory of the season, and with the win moved into solo first place on DSU's career victories list (19). Meanwhile, three DSU relievers combined to limit the Sharks to three runs and two hits over the final three innings to close out the game.

DSU outhit HPU 15-6 in the opener, with McLaughlin and Porter leading the way with three hits apiece, while Mildenberg and Davison each collected two safeties. Porter (60 RBI) finished with three RBI and in the process became just third player in Dixie State's NCAA era to reach the 60-RBI plateau in a season.

The nightcap featured a hard-fought pitcher's duel as DSU starter Mason Hilty (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) and HPU southpaw Matthew Gunter matched each other frame-for-frame through seven scoreless innings of play. Hilty stymied the Shark offense in the early going as he held HPU to only one hit over his first five innings of work.

The Sharks looks as if they would break through against Hilty in the sixth as HPU had runners on the corners with one out in the frame, but Baker was able to make a diving grab on a bounding ball up the middle to start an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play to keep HPU off the board.

Meanwhile Gunter managed to keep DSU's offense in check, limiting the Trailblazers to just five hits over his first seven innings of work. However DSU was able to solve Gunter in the eighth as Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, Hawai'i/Kapolei HS) reached with a two-out double into the left centerfield gap. Then after an intentional walk to Porter, Mildenberg lined the first pitch he saw from Gunter back up the middle for a base hit to drive in Kamachi with the game's first run.

That lead would be short-lived as HPU outfielder Keola Himan led off the home eighth with a single ahead of infielder Mitchell Bumann, who pounced on a 1-1 offering from Hilty and drove it over the left field wall to spot his side a 2-1 lead.

Gunter (W, 6-4), who struck out 10 and threw 140 pitches on the night, would retire DSU in order in the ninth to earn the complete-game victory.

Mildenberg led DSU with two hits to go with his RBI as DSU outhit HPU by a 7-6 count in game two. Hilty (L, 8-2), who suffered his first loss in his last eight decisions overall, scattered two runs and five hits with four strikeouts and no walks in seven full innings of work.

DSU and HPU will conclude their four-game series with another doubleheader Sunday afternoon beginning at 3 p.m. (MT), at Hans L'Orange Park.