No. 9 Dixie State was held to just one run and 11 total hits, which offset two solid starting pitching performances, as the Trailblazers dropped both ends of a Pacific West Conference doubleheader at No. 8 Azusa Pacific Tuesday afternoon at the Cougar Baseball Complex.

DSU (36-12-1/25-9-1 PacWest) suffered its first shutout loss in nearly two full seasons in falling 2-0 in the opener, while the Cougars (40-9/27-8 PacWest) clinched the outright PacWest title and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with a 4-1 triumph in the seven-inning nightcap.

APU got on the board quickly in the first inning thanks to a Pablo O'Connor solo home run with one out in the frame. DSU had a chance to possibly tie or take a lead in the second as Miles Bice (Henderson, Nev./Coronado HS) laced a double to right field ahead Jake Davison (Taylorsville, Utah/Taylorsville HS), who drilled the first pitch he saw from Cougar starter Billy Oxford deep to left field, but O'Connor managed to make the catch up against the outfield fence for the third out.

O'Connor struck again in the third as he connected for an opposite-field solo homer off of Trailblazer hurler Mason Hilty (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) to spot his side a 2-0 advantage. Meanwhile, Oxford kept the DSU offense at bay as he retired 14-straight Trailblazers after the Bice double before Logan Porter (Surprise, Ariz./Valley Vista HS) reached on a one-out single in the seventh, but DSU could not capitalize on the chance as Oxford fanned the next two hitters he faced to end the frame.

For his part, Hilty kept Dixie State in the game as he retired 14 of the next 16 Cougars he faced after O'Connor's second homer, including a kick-stop on a sharp comebacker off O'Connor's bat in the fifth, which caromed to Davison who then threw on to first to record the out.

Dixie State mounted one more charge against Oxford in the eighth as Bice reached on a lead-off walk, which was followed by a two-out infield single from Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS). However Oxford escaped the jam as he induced a Tyler Baker (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman HS) line out to O'Connor in left field. Oxford then worked around a two-out Tyler Mildenberg (Huntington Beach, Calif./Marina HS) bunt single to close out the complete game victory.

Hilty (L, 9-3) posted his fifth complete game of the season as he scattered eight hits and two runs over eight innings with six strikeouts. The five hits DSU collected tied a season-low for the Trailblazer offense, which saw its streak of scoring at least one run in a game stopped at 101-straight games. The last time DSU was shut out was in the final game of the 2015 season (5/16), a 7-0 loss to UC San Diego in an NCAA West Region elimination game played in Walnut, Calif.

Oxford (W, 10-1) struck out nine while allowing only six Trailblazers to reach base safely.

In the nightcap, the Cougars used a two-out, third inning rally to break open a scoreless game and take a 3-0 lead. DSU starter Matt Mosca (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) retired the first six batters he faced, but a lead-off walk and two-out hit set the table for O'Connor, who singled to left field to drive in the first run of the rally. Adrian Tovalin then followed with a two-run base hit to left center that gave APU its three-run cushion.

APU starter Dillon Miyashiro picked up where Oxford left off in the first game as he retired 12-straight DSU hitters after Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS) led the game off with a single. Dixie State looked as if it would score its first run of the day in the fifth, which was started by a Mildenberg lead-off single. With two outs in the frame, Reece Lucero (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva HS) laced a two-out double to right center and Mildenberg attempted to score from first base, but Mildenberg was called out for an illegal slide when he collided with APU catcher Justin Gomez, who appeared to have blocked the plate before the ball had arrived, which kept DSU off the scoreboard.

That play would loom large for DSU in the next inning as Bryce Feist (Emmett, Idaho/Rocky Mountain HS) broke the Trailblazers' scoring drought with a lead-off solo home run to left field to cut the deficit to 3-1. Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, Hawai'i/Kapolei HS) then followed with a two-out single to bring up Porter carrying the potential tying run, but Miyashiro managed to induce an inning-ending groundout to escape further damage.

Azusa Pacific got that run back in the home sixth when Michael Staudinger connected for a two-out solo homer to right center to push the Cougar lead back to three runs. Miyashiro (W, 7-2) would pitch around a Mildenberg lead-off single to record the final three outs in the seventh to wrap up the doubleheader sweep.

DSU lost despite outhitting APU 6-4, with Mildenberg accounting for two of the Trailblazers' six safeties in the game. Despite the third-inning hiccup, Mosca (L, 6-2) struck out five in six effective innings, with all four of APU's hits and runs coming in two of the third and sixth frames.

The two teams will wrap up the 2017 regular season with the four-game series finale Wednesday at 12 noon (PT) at the Cougar Baseball Complex.