(Friday's Postgame Press Conference)

No. 10 Dixie State rallied for two runs in the ninth and another in extra innings as the Trailblazers staved off elimination with a 6-5 victory over Cal Poly Pomona on day two of the 2017 NCAA Division II Baseball West Regional tournament Friday afternoon at Azusa Pacific University's Cougar Baseball Complex. Dixie State advances on to face Pacific West Conference rival No. 15 California Baptist in an elimination game Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. (PT).

DSU (38-13-1) manufactured the game's first run in the third inning on a Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, Hawai'i/Kapolei HS) two-out RBI-single that scored Bryce Feist (Emmett, Idaho/Rocky Mountain HS), who singled to right field to open the frame and was moved into scoring position on a Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS) sacrifice ground out.

The early run bolstered a strong start from senior righthander Mason Hilty (Richland, Wash./Richland HS), who after escaping trouble in each of the first two innings of his day, needed only 22 pitches to retire nine-straight Bronco hitters he faced over his next three innings of work.

After Cal Poly Pomona (34-21) scored a two-out run to tie game at 1-1 in the home sixth, the Trailblazers strung together three two-out hits of their own to plate a pair of runs to reclaim the lead at 3-1. Miles Bice (Henderson, Nev./Coronado HS) started the rally with a double, then after a single and stolen base from Reece Lucero (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva HS), Feist laced a single up the middle to drive in both DSU base runners.

Hilty backed the rally up with a shutdown seventh inning that featured a pair of strikeouts, while DSU threatened for more in the eighth as Kamachi and Logan Porter (Surprise, Ariz./Valley Vista HS) both reached on one-out base hits, but Bronco starter Henry Omana (ND) struck out the next two Trailblazers he faced to escape the jam.

That missed opportunity loomed large in the Bronco half of the eighth as CPP struck for four runs, all of which came via the long ball, as Cal Poly Pomona raced out to its lone lead of the day at 5-3. Daniel Pitts and Nic Hernandez connected for consecutive one-out solo homers that knotted the game at 3-3, then after a Jason Padlo two-out single, Brennan McKenzie hit a towering home run to left field, which spelled the end of the day for Hilty.

Bice started Dixie State's ninth-inning rally with a lead-off single, while Feist reached on a one-out error on the Bronco infield. With two outs and down to potentially its final strike of the 2017 season, DSU got arguably its biggest hit of the year as Tyler Baker (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman HS) lined a 3-2 pitch to the gap in left centerfield to double in both Trailblazer runners and tie the game at 5-5.

After Dixie State dodged two-out trouble in the CPP ninth, the Trailblazers wrestled the lead back in the 10^th thanks to a Bice run-scoring groundout. DSU got the first two batters in the inning on base without benefit of a base hit as Porter was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame and Tyler Mildenberg (Huntington Beach, Calif./Marina HS) walked on five pitches. Ryan Rodriguez (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago HS) then bunted the runners into scoring position to set up Bice, who hit a high chopper to second base which allowed pinch runner Trey Reineke (Aurora, Colo./Smoky Hill HS) to scamper home carrying the go-ahead run.

The Broncos mounted one last charge in the home 10th as CPP loaded the bases with a one-out hit and a two-out error and walk. However DSU reliever Tyler Burdett (Las Vegas, Nev./Sierra Vista HS) (S, 5), who came on with two outs in the stanza, induced a Jacob Bernardy foul out to Lucero behind home plate to close out the win.

DSU pounded out 11 hits on the afternoon, including a 3-for-5 effort from Kamachi, while Baker, Bice and Feist each collected two hits. DSU's offense picked up Hilty, who fanned five and held CPP to just six hits and one run through his first seven innings, but he did not figure into the decision after that fateful eighth inning. Junior righthander Tanner Howell (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City HS) (W, 3-2) struck out four and limited the Broncos to two hits over two inning of relief to win his third decision of the year.

In Friday's other two regional games, CBU eliminated regional top seed No. 3 Chico State by a 14-2 count, while No. 14 UC San Diego got a complete-game one-hit shutout from starter Adrian Orozco in a 4-0 victory over No. 9 Azusa Pacific.

Prior to Saturday's DSU/CBU game, Cal Poly Pomona will play APU in an elimination game at 11 a.m. (PT), and UCSD will face the CPP/APU winner to wrap up play on day three beginning at 7 p.m. (PT).