Game Times at APU (Mountain):
Monday - 5 p.m.
Tuesday (DH) - 3 p.m.
Wednesday - 1 p.m.
Game Notes: (DIXIE STATE - PDF) | APU
Audio/Video: portal.stretchinternet.com/apu
Live Stats: portal.stretchinternet.com/apu
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Base | #DixieBlazers | #PacWestBASE | #d2bsb
 
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Monday (G1) – RHP Dylan File (8-1, 3.45 ERA) vs. RHP Michael Fairchild (8-1, 2.02 ERA)
Tuesday (G2) – RHP Mason Hilty (9-2, 2.88 ERA) vs. RHP Billy Oxford (9-1, 3.18 ERA)
Tuesday (G3) – LHP Matt Mosca (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) (6-1, 3.60 ERA) vs. LHP Kale Morton (6-0, 3.47 ERA)
Wednesday (G4) – TBA vs. RHP Dillon Miyashiro (6-2, 3.15 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: No. 9 Dixie State (35-10-1/24-7-1 PacWest) wraps up the 2017 regular season with a four-game Pacific West Conference championship showdown at No. 8 Azusa Pacific (38-8/25-7 PacWest) this Monday-through-Wednesday, May 8-9, in Azusa, Calif.
    The DSU/APU series will determine the PacWest regular season championship as the Trailblazers and Cougars are separated by just percentage points in the conference standings. If DSU wins the series outright, the Trailblazers will claim their fifth PacWest title and third in the last four years overall, and with it the PacWest's automatic bid to the NCAA West Regional tournament. Meanwhile, if APU wins or splits the series, the Cougars will claim the league crown and the automatic bid.
    Monday's series opener will begin at 4 p.m. (PT), followed by a doubleheader Tuesday at 2 p.m. (PT), and Wednesday's series finale will start at 12 noon (PT). All four games will be played at the Cougar Baseball Complex on the APU campus.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Dixie State trails in its eight-year series vs. Azusa Pacific, 12-14, though the Trailblazers have won nine of the last 14 meetings overall. DSU and APU have split the last 12 games played over the past three seasons, including a 2-2 series split the last time these two teams met in St. George in 2016.

LAST TIME OUT: The Trailblazers have enjoyed an 11-day layoff after going 6-1-1 on their grueling six-day Hawaiian road swing. Due to a rain out that postponed its series opener at Hawai'i Pacific (4/21), Dixie State wound up playing eight games in five days, which began with a series win at HPU in Waipahu. DSU won two of the first three games of the series, but due to a travel curfew which allowed DSU to make its flight to Hilo, the Trailblazers finished the HPU series with their first tie in the program's NCAA-era (8-8) in the series finale.
    Once in Hilo, DSU made itself right at home as the Trailblazers outscored the Vulcans by a 42-13 count en route to a decisive four-game series sweep.

COACHING STAFF: Two-time Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year Chris Pfatenhauer is in his fifth season as head coach of the Dixie State Baseball program. Pfatenhauer led DSU to consecutive PacWest titles (2014 and 2015) and to four-straight trips (five-straight overall) to the NCAA West Regionals, including serving as the host institution in 2013. Pfatenhauer, who picked up his 200th-career coaching victory vs. Saint Martin's this past Feb. 19, owns a 175-77-1 (.693) overall record at DSU, including a 123-44-1 (.735) record in PacWest play, and a 227-136-1 (.625) career mark.
    Joining Pfatenhauer (UNLV, 2000) in the Trailblazer dugout this season is second-year pitching coach Michael Gargano (Walden University, 2013), along with third-year assistant coaches Matt Hill (Dixie State 2015), and Bobby Rinard (Arizona, 2014), and second-year assistant coach Patrick Perry (Northern Colorado, 2013).

TRAILBLAZERS VOTED SECOND IN PACWEST PRESEASON POLL: Dixie State was picked to finish second in the 2017 Pacific West Conference preseason coaches' poll released on January 26. Defending PacWest champion California Baptist received five first place votes and 91 total points to edge DSU in being tabbed as the PacWest preseason favorite, while the Trailblazers collected three first-place votes and finished with 90 points. Azusa Pacific (one first-place vote) was picked to finish third with 78 points, followed by Point Loma (one first-place vote, 66 points) in fourth and Fresno Pacific (54 points) in fifth to round out the top-half of the poll.
    Dixie State senior second baseman Drew McLaughlin was voted as PacWest Preseason Player of the Year and junior righthander Dylan File was named PacWest Preseason Co-Pitcher of the Year. In all, the Trailblazers landed a league-high four players on the PacWest preseason team, which includes senior outfielder Trey Kamachi and senior 1B/DH Ryan Rodriguez.

DSU IN THE POLLS: Dixie State is ranked third in the latest official NCAA West Region baseball poll, which was released on Wednesday. CCAA member Chico State remains as the top team in the rankings, followed by Azusa Pacific in second, DSU, fellow PacWest member California Baptist in fourth, UC San Diego in fifth and PacWest member Point Loma in sixth.
    Meanwhile, Dixie State is ranked third in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) NCAA Division II West Region poll, one slot below APU (No. 2) and one position ahead of CBU. In all, four PacWest teams are ranked in the top-10 regionally, including Point Loma at No. T9.
    Dixie State is also ranked in the top-20 in all four national polls this week, including No. 8 in the latest Perfect Game D-II poll (5/3), No. 9 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll (5/1), No. 11 in the D2 Baseball News poll (5/2), and No. 17 in the NCBWA poll (5/2).

REGIONAL/NATIONAL HONORS FOR MCLAUGHLIN, HILTY AND LUCERO: The NCBWA announced in January its 2017 preseason all-West Region and All-America honorees and three Trailblazers made the cut. McLaughlin, senior RHP Mason Hilty and senior catcher Reece Lucero were all voted to the West Region first team, while McLaughlin garnered third team All-America honors, and Hilty earned honorable mention All-America honors.

WE'RE GOING STREAKING: Not only did Dixie State begin the 2017 season looking to win its third PacWest crown in four seasons, the Trailblazers are also hoping to keep its NCAA postseason streak alive as well. DSU has made five-straight NCAA regional appearances, which is currently the longest active streak in the West Region.

HILTY EARNS THIRD PACWEST WEEKLY HONOR: For the third time this season, senior righthander Mason Hilty was named Pacific West Conference Pitcher of the Week this past Monday for his performance in the Trailblazers' 4-0 road victory at Hawai'i Hilo last week.
    Hilty broke DSU's single-season record for complete game shutouts (and tied the DSU career record) after he tossed a seven-inning three-hit gem in the Hilo series finale. Hilty struck out seven and retired nine of the first 10 hitters he faced, while all four baserunners that reached against him in the game did not advance past second base.
    Hilty, who also earned the PacWest weekly honor this past Feb. 27 and April 4, currently leads the conference in wins (9-2) and innings pitched (84.1 IP), and is fifth among PacWest starting pitchers in ERA (2.88). He enters the final week of the 2017 regular season ranked second in DSU's NCAA-era in career victories (19-3) and ERA (3.22) and is third in career strikeouts (132), while his nine victories on the year is second all-time behind his single-season school record of 10 set last season.

HOME SWEET HOME: Dixie State wrapped up its 2017 regular season home schedule with a 21-5 (.807) record, which included a pair of PacWest series sweeps vs. Point Loma (March 24-25) and AAU (April 6-8) to close out the slate.  
    In all, DSU has played to a 224-82 (.807) overall record inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field since becoming an NCAA Division II program in 2006-07, and has posted a winning record at home in all 11 seasons of NCAA play. Dixie State has won 20 or more games in seven of those 11 seasons, including a 24-6 overall record (.800) in 2016, which was the second-best home mark in terms of wins in the program's NCAA Division II era (26-7 in 2009), and were the most home wins under Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer, while this season's .807 winning percentage is the best in the Pfatenhauer era.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Dixie State has also held its own away from home as the Trailblazers are 14-5-1 on the road this season, which includes the CBU series win in March and two series wins in Hawai'i last month. In fact, DSU's 6-1-1 Hawai'i road trip clinched the program's seventh-straight winning road season mark.
    DSU owns a 125-102-1 overall road record (.550) through its first 10-plus years of D-II competition with those seven-straight winning road marks, including a 14-7 road record last season. In 2015, DSU went a program-best 15-5 on the road (.750), and DSU has won at least 10 road games in eight-straight seasons overall. When you also figure in neutral-site games (7-8 in 15 games), Dixie State is 132-110-1 (.545) all-time away from Bruce Hurst Field in NCAA play.

JUST WIN BABY: Dixie State extended its streak of winning 30 or more games to nine-straight seasons while on the Islands last month. In fact, DSU has won 35 of more games in four of those seasons, including three of the last four years under Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer.
    Dixie State set a new four-year program record for victories with 40 wins (38 regular season games) in the 2016 campaign. DSU's record-breaking season was bolstered by a 10-0 start to begin the season, its best overall start in the program's 10-year NCAA-era.
    DSU is 356-192-1 (.649) overall record in 10-plus years of NCAA Division II competition (549 games). The Trailblazers won its 300th game as a four-year program in the second game of a doubleheader at Holy Names on March 18, 2016. In addition, DSU recorded its 30th win of the 2016 season in game No. 38 (at PLNU - 4/8), which was the fastest the program had won 30 games in a season in DSU's four-year era.

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK....: Dixie State posted the biggest comeback in the program's NCAA-era with its 14-12 victory in game two at California Baptist this past March 17. The Trailblazers entered the eighth inning trailing 12-3, only to rally for nine eighth-inning runs, followed by a two-run ninth to clinch the win. DSU sent 14 batters to the plate in that eighth frame, seven of which reached via base hit.
    Prior to that comeback win, the largest deficit Dixie State had overcome in its NCAA-era was a six-run deficit done twice, the first instance coming in a 13-12 win at NCAA Division I member Utah Valley (down 12-6) on April 21, 2007, and again at home last season in a 7-6 victory over Azusa Pacific (down 6-0; 4/16/16).

AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: The Trailblazers tied a school record with 24 hits in their 23-5 victory over Holy Names (3/5). All nine DSU starters in the lineup had at least one hit, eight of which had two or more safeties overall.  
    The 24 hits tied the program's NCAA-era record which was set at Cal State Los Angeles (2/10) in the 2013 season. Meanwhile, the 23 runs scored vs. HNU were the most in a single game under Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer and tied for the third-highest run total in the program's four-year era. The 23 runs were also the most runs scored in a game in nearly 10 years as DSU last scored 23 runs in a win vs. Grand Canyon (23-8) back on April 30, 2008.

FROM POLE TO POLE: Senior RF Miles Bice (.318/1HR/27RBI) drove in eight runs and hit .357 on the Hawai'i trip, including a .429 clip at Hilo ... Bice is currently t-10th-nationally in sacrifice bunts (12) ... Senior CF Trey Kamachi (.403/3HR/37RBI) hit a combined .333 with seven run scored, five RBI and three XBH in eight starts in Hawai'i ... Kamachi has hit safely in 40 of 46 games played with 17 two-hit games (including seven-straight at one point), and he is currently third the PacWest in batting (.403 - 47th-nationally), and runs (53 - t-38th nationally), and is second in hits (60 - t-38th-nationally) ... Senior Drew McLaughlin (.395/1HR/23RBI) enjoyed his final trip to Hawai'i in a Trailblazer uniform as he batted .514 in the eight starts with a team-high 19 hits, along with six RBI and four runs scored ... McLaughlin, who has hit safely in six-straight and in 18 of his last 23 games overall, is DSU career hits leader (279) and he currently leads the PacWest and is ranked t-35th-nationally in doubles (17) ... McLaughlin is also DSU's career leader in at-bats (775), runs (177) and starts (192), and is second in stolen bases (31), games played (196) and fourth in career batting average (.360) ... Senior OF Trey Reineke (.250/4HR/14RBI) started in three of six games played in Hawai'i and hit .364, which included his fourth HR of the year (at HPU 4/22) and five total RBI ... Senior OF Jerome Hill II played in five games in Hawai'i with four starts and batted a combined .786 with four RBI and nine runs scored ... Hill II hit an even .800 (8-for-10) with a double and a team series-high six runs scored in three starts in the series sweep at Hilo ... senior UT Ryan Rodriguez (.395/2HR/8RBI) made his first two plate appearances in nearly two months in Hawai'i and went 1-for-2 with a single.

AROUND THE HORN: Sophomore 3B Bryce Feist (Emmett, Idaho/Rocky Mountain HS) (.389/1HR/18RBI) started in four games in Hawai'i (two in each series) and combined to hit .538 with a double, two RBI and three runs scored ... Senior SS Tyler Baker (.320/0HR/29RBI) hit .226 and collected six RBI and six runs scored and went a perfect 3-for-3 in SB attempts in eight starts in Hawai'i ... Baker padded his single-season SB record (20) and moved into seventh on DSU's career SB list ... Senior Tyler Mildenberg (.390/6HR/44RBI) started at either 2B/3B in all eight games in Hawai'i and batted .387 with trip highs of two triples and 11 runs scored ... Mildenberg (5 3Bs), who leads the PacWest in triples, enters the final week of the regular season needing just one more triple to tie former DSU player Jesse Stone (6, 2007) for DSU's single-season record ... Mildenberg also leads the PacWest and is ranked 27th-nationally in runs scored (55) ... Junior 1B Logan Porter (Surprise, Ariz./Valley Vista HS) (.397/8HR/64RBI) hit .367 in eight starts in Hawai'i with two XBH, including his team-leading eighth HR of the year (at HPU, 4/22), to go with seven RBI and seven runs scored ... Porter second in the PacWest and seventh-nationally in RBI (64) and has driven in 46 of his 64 RBI over his last 32 games ... Porter enters the week needing five more RBI to pass former DSU player Drew Oldfield (68, 2009) for first place on DSU's single-season RBI list ... Porter, who has hit safely in eight-straight and in 15 of his last 18 games, has reached base safely in 44 of 46 games played this season overall.

THE BACKSTOPS: Senior catcher Reece Lucero (.266/3HR/19RBI) started in four games in Hawai'i (2 at HPU/2 at Hilo) and combined to hit .333 with one double and two RBI ... Sophomore Jake Davison (Taylorsville, Utah/Taylorsville HS) (.364/4HR/28RBI) made seven starts in Hawai'i (4 at catcher/3 at DH) and led the team with a trip-high 10 RBI, including a career-high five in the opener at Hilo (4/25) thanks in part to a 3-run HR ... Davison has hit safely in 21 of his last 23 games and he has reached base safely in 27 of his last 28 games overall.

ROTATION NOTES: Junior RHP Dylan File (8-1/3.45 ERA/67K) won both of his starts on the Hawai'i trip and became DSU's career leader wins and strikeouts along the way ... File became the first DSU pitcher in the program's D-II era to reach the 20-win plateau (20-3) with his eighth win of the year in game three at Hilo, and for good measure became DSU's career strikeout leader (185) with a fifth-inning punchout that spoiled a bases-loaded opportunity for the Vulcans ... File also fired six innings of one-run, four-hit baseball with three strikeouts in the series opener at HPU (4/22) ... File has been solid over his last 10 starts overall as he has pitched to an 8-1 record with a 2.37 ERA and has recorded 59 of his 67 strikeouts over this current stretch ... In PacWest play, File is 6-1 with a 2.80 ERA in eight starts and has struck out 44 in 54.2 IP ... entering play this week, File is second all-time in IP (230.1) and K/9 (7.23), and is third in career ERA (3.67) and CG (6).
    Senior RHP Mason Hilty (9-2/2.88 ERA/60K) went 1-1 in two starts in Hawai'i, though he only surrendered two runs and eight hits in 14.0 IP in the two games ... Hilty struck out a combined 11, including seven in his CG win at Hilo (4/26) ... Hilty has surrendered just 24 hits and six runs (five earned) over his last 39.0 IP, and he has allowed only two earned runs over his last 32 innings of work overall ... Hilty leads the PacWest and is currently ranked t-12th-nationally in wins (9), which is one shy of DSU's single season record of 10 wins he set last season ... Hilty also moved up to third on DSU's career strikeouts list (132) and he enters the week as DSU's career leader in strikeouts/9 innings (7.33) and walks/9 innings (1.67), and is second in career ERA (3.22).  
    Junior LHP Matt Mosca (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) (6-1/3.60 ERA/47K) strung together two stellar appearances on the Hawai'i trip, during which he posted a minute 1.86 ERA with eight strikeouts in 9.2 innings of work overall ... Mosca collected his sixth win of the year after he threw seven innings of two-run, five-hit ball with five strikeouts in game three at HPU (4/23) ... he followed that up with 2.2 innings of two-hit relief with three more strikeouts in game three at Hilo (4/26).

CALL TO THE PEN: With Dixie State forced to play eight games in five days in Hawai'i, the DSU bullpen combined for 16 total appearances and 22.1 innings of work in seven of those games ... In all, the Trailblazers relief corps combined to allow just 22 hits and six total earned runs (2.42 ERA) and posted a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (21 K/7 BB) ... The bullpen collected two wins and two saves, including a win and a save for senior Tyler Burdett (2-2, 4 SV), while senior Sean Hardman (2-0, 1 SV) picked up his second win of the year in game one at Hilo (4/25) ... Meanwhile, senior southpaw Walker Williams (2-0, 2 SV) extended his scoreless streak to eight-straight games (8.0 IP) after he threw three hitless innings with two strikeouts to earn the save in game two at Hilo (4/25) ... Williams has surrendered only two runs this season (one earned) and has not given up an earned run since game three of the Colorado Mesa series (2/11), which is a span of 12 total appearances (11 IP).

TEAM NOTES: Dixie State was saddled with its first tie in the program's NCAA era due to a travel curfew in the finale at Hawai'i Pacific (4/23) ... DSU had played 544 games through its near 11-years of NCAA membership prior to that team no-decision.
    For the second time in three series overall, the Trailblazers outscored an opponent by 29 runs en route to a four-game sweep when DSU won four-straight at Hilo (4/25-26) ... DSU outscored UHH by a 42-13 count and scored nine or more runs in three of the four games played.
    Dixie State posted one of its most dominant series performances in the program's NCAA-era vs. Academy of Art (4/6-8/17) as the Trailblazers outscored the Urban Knights by a 34-5 count in the four-game sweep ... the combined 29-run edge was the third-highest margin of victory in a four-game sweep in program history behind a 36-run margin set vs. Colorado Christian in 2007 (44-8; 2/16-17/07), and a school-record 46-run margin vs. AAU (52-6; 3/16-17) in 2009 ... In addition, the five runs allowed also broke the school record for fewest runs allowed in a four-game series ... the previous series low was six runs set three times, including two occasions vs. Academy of Art (2013 and 2009) and in DSU's last visit to Hilo (2015).
    DSU's pitching staff posted a combined 3.32 ERA on the Hawai'i road trip, which included a 2.91 ERA in the four-game sweep at Hilo, while the Trailblazers held HPU and UHH to a combined .254 batting average ... as a whole DSU owns a 3.32 ERA, which is good for 30th-nationally.
    DSU recorded back-to-back shutout victories in this year's AAU series, which marked third time in the program's four-year era (all at home) that the Trailblazers accomplished that feat ... DSU also posted consecutive ShO wins in a three-game set vs. Cal State Los Angeles (7-0 and 11-0; 4/18-19) in 2014, and vs. AAU (13-0 and 10-0; 3/16) in 2009.
    DSU hit .391 on the Hawaiian road trip (107-for-274) with 21 total extra bases (13 2B/4 3B/4 HR) ... DSU has outscored its opponents by a combined 318-159 over the last 38 games and by a 376-202 clip overall this season ... DSU went 11-for-14 in the stolen base department in Hawai'i and now has 71 for the season, which tied last year's total (#2 in NCAA era) and is five shy of eclipsing the program's single season record of 75 set in 2013.
    DSU is averaging 8.2 runs (16th-nationally) and 11.5 hits per game through 46 games this season ... Dixie State enters this weekend's series SECOND the nation in batting (.351), sacrifice bunts (63) and sacrifice flies (37), fifth in pitching ShOs (7) and OB% (.431), 14th in fielding percentage (.971), 15th in base hits (532) and 21st-nationally in runs scored (376).
    Dixie State's 12-inning series opener vs. Colorado Mesa (2/10) was the longest game in terms of innings played since April 23, 2015, when DSU and Azusa Pacific needed 12 innings to decide an 8-7 Trailblazer victory ... DSU to 27-13 (.675) all-time in 40 total extra-inning games in the program's four-year era.

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Depending the outcome of the APU series, Dixie State will find out on 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.