No. 9 Dixie State closed the 2017 regular season with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory at No. 8 Azusa Pacific Wednesday afternoon at the Cougar Baseball Complex. With the win the Trailblazers clinched a four-game series split with Cougars and improved to 37-12-1, 26-9-1 in Pacific West Conference play.

Dixie State took a quick 1-0 first inning lead on a Logan Porter (Surprise, Ariz./Valley Vista HS) run-scoring double that came with two outs in the frame. APU countered with a pair of runs in the second and got another in the third on a Stephen Garrett solo home run to left field to take a 3-1 lead.

The Trailblazers, who left four runners on base through the first three innings, loaded the bases in the fourth on consecutive lead-off singles from Ryan Rodriguez (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago HS), Miles Bice (Henderson, Nev./Coronado HS) and two-out Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS) hit, but the DSU could not capitalize as APU pitcher Mitch Williams managed to strike out the side in the stanza to preserve the Cougar lead.

However DSU would break through in the fifth for two runs to pull even at 3-3. Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, Hawai'i/Kapolei HS) led off the frame with a single, then after a Porter double – his third in as many at bats, the Trailblazers got RBI from Rodriguez and Reece Lucero (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva HS) to tie the game.

The game remained tied until the eighth when with two outs McLaughlin tripled to left center and scored the go-ahead run on an errant relay throw that bounded into the DSU dugout. Junior reliever Tanner Howell (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City HS) (W, 2-2), who came on midway through in the seventh, limited APU to just one hit over the final two innings to close out the win.

Dixie State outhit APU 12-9, with Porter and McLaughlin leading the way with three hits apiece. DSU employed five pitchers on the afternoon who combined held limited APU to three runs and nine hits with seven strikeouts.

Dixie State, which is currently third in the latest NCAA Division II West Region rankings, will find out this Sunday, May 14, if the Trailblazers will advance to their sixth-straight NCAA West Regional, which will be held on May 18-21 at a site that has yet to be determined.