Game Times at CMU (Mountain):
Friday - 2:30 p.m.
Saturday (DH) - 12 noon
Sunday - 12 noon
Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | CMU
Audio/Video: portal.stretchinternet.com/cmumavericks
Live Stats: www.sidearmstats.com/coloradomesa/baseball
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Base | #BlazeForward | #PacWestBASE | #d2bsb
 
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – RHP Jayden Murray (Vernal, Utah/Uintah HS) (0-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Leahy (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Saturday (G2) – LHP Matt Mosca (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) (1-0, 1.69 ERA) vs. LHP Reagan Todd (0-0, 1.93 ERA)
Saturday (G3) – LHP Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, Idaho/Highland HS) (0-0, 31.50 ERA) vs. RHP JR McDermott (0-1, 8.10 ERA)
Sunday (G4) – RHP Gabe Taylor (Pittsburg, Calif./Clayton Valley Charter School) (0-0, 3.18 ERA) vs. LHP Chris Ramirez (0-1, 18.00 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: No. 15/19 Dixie State (4-2/0-0 PacWest) opens the road portion of its 2018 regular season this weekend as the Trailblazers head to Grand Junction for a four-game weekend series at No. 4/3 Colorado Mesa (2-2). The series kicks off with a single game on Friday, Feb. 16 at 2:30 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12 noon, while Sunday's finale will start at 12 noon.

ALL-TIME SERIES: DSU is 14-21 all-time vs. its future Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals in Colorado Mesa, which includes the Mavericks taking three of four from the Trailblazers last season at Bruce Hurst Field. In fact, CMU has won 16 of the last 22 meetings between the two teams, this after DSU won eight of the first 13 to begin the series.
    The last time the two sides met in Grand Junction, both teams came away with a hard-fought split of a very competitive four-game series (2/26-28/16) that saw all four games decided by one run. CMU claimed the first two games in walk-off fashion, 2-1 (10) and 5-4, before the Trailblazers rallied for a 6-5 win in game three and a 13-12 result in the series finale.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State opened the 2018 season by taking four of six games played over a four-day stretch at Bruce Hurst Field. DSU swept a three-game series vs. Cal State San Bernardino, with two of those wins coming in walk-off fashion. DSU opened the series with a 9-8 win in 11 innings (2/9) and a 4-2 triumph on a Logan Porter (Surprise, Ariz./Valley Vista HS) two-out, two-run homer in game two (2/10), which was followed by a 12-2 victory in the finale last Sunday.
    Dixie State also played host to Montana State Billings and claimed one game in that series, including a walk-off 12-11 win in the season opener (2/8), while the Yellowjackets out-slugged the Trailblazers to claim the series with wins in game two (15-7, 2/9) and game three (14-11, 2/10). In fact, the game two loss to MSUB snapped DSU's 10-game winning streak vs. the Yellowjackets.

COACHING STAFF: Two-time Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year Chris Pfatenhauer is in his sixth season as head coach of the Dixie State Baseball program. Pfatenhauer led DSU to consecutive PacWest titles (2014 and 2015) and to five-straight trips (six-straight overall) to the NCAA West Regionals, including serving as the host institution in 2013. Pfatenhauer, who picked up his 200th-career coaching victory last season vs. Saint Martin's (2/19/17) owns a 183-83-1 (.687) overall record at DSU, including a 125-46-1 (.727) record in PacWest play, and a 231-140-1 (.622) career mark.
    Joining Pfatenhauer (UNLV, 2000) in the Trailblazer dugout this season is first-year pitching coach Matt Wilson (Sacramento State, 2006), along with fourth-year assistant coaches Matt Hill (Dixie State 2015), and Bobby Rinard (Arizona, 2014), and third-year assistant coach Patrick Perry (Northern Colorado, 2013).

DSU IN THE POLLS: (New regular season polls will be released next week) The preseason prognostications are out and Dixie State has earned plenty of regional and national preseason attention. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released its 2018 NCAA Division II West Region preseason poll late last month, and ranked the Trailblazers third-overall behind defending NCAA West Regional champion UC San Diego (No. 1) and defending PacWest champ Azusa Pacific (No. 2). In all, four PacWest teams are ranked in the regional top-10 poll, including conference rival California Baptist (No. 5) and Point Loma (No. 8).
    In addition, Dixie State began the 2018 campaign ranked in the top-20 in two national preseason polls, including No. 15 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll, and No. 19 in the NCBWA poll.

TRAILBLAZERS VOTED THIRD IN PACWEST PRESEASON POLL: Dixie State was picked to finish third in the 2018 Pacific West Conference preseason coaches' poll released on Jan. 25. California Baptist received seven first place votes and 116 total points to edge defending PacWest champion Azusa Pacific, which collected four first place nods and 111 points to finish second in the poll. DSU garnered 100 points, followed by Point Loma (84 pts) in fourth, Concordia-Irvine (79 pts) in fifth, and Fresno Pacific (66 pts) in sixth to round out the top half of the poll.
    Dixie State senior first baseman Logan Porter (Surprise, Ariz./Valley Vista HS) and junior third baseman Bryce Feist (Emmett, Idaho/Rocky Mountain HS) were both voted to the PacWest preseason team. APU's Pablo O'Connor was voted the conference preseason Player of the Year, while CBU's Dylan Stowell was tabbed as the league's preseason Pitcher of the Year.

REGIONAL HONORS FOR PORTER AND FEIST: The NCBWA announced last month its 2018 preseason all-West Region honors list honorees and two Trailblazers made the cut as both Porter and Feist were named to the NCBWA West Region second team. 

2018 FAREWELL TOUR: Dixie State will wrap up its 10-year run in the Pacific West Conference this season before moving on to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) ahead of the 2019 baseball season.
    The Trailblazers have won four PacWest baseball titles (2009, 2011, 2014, 2015) over their nine seasons of conference membership and has posted a dominant 206-93-1 overall record (.687) in an even 300 league games. 

WE'RE GOING STREAKING: Not only does Dixie State enter the 2018 season looking to win its third PacWest crown in five seasons in its final year of conference membership, the Trailblazers are also hoping to keep its NCAA postseason streak alive as well. DSU has made six-straight NCAA regional appearances, which is currently the longest active streak in the West Region.

IT'S OPENING DAY: Dixie State moved to 7-5 all-time on "Opening Day" during the program's Division II era after its walk-off 12-11 win over MSUB Feb. 8. It was the Trailblazers' third-straight opening day win was the seven of its last nine season debuts overall. In addition, DSU now owns an 8-4 overall record in home openers.

HOME SWEET HOME: Dixie State has played to a 228-84 (.731) 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 21-5 (.807) record last season, and a 24-6 mark (.800) in 2016, which was the second-best home record in terms of wins in the program's NCAA Division II era (26-7 in 2009). The 24 wins that year were also the most home wins under Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer, while last season's .807 winning percentage in 2017 was the best during the Pfatenhauer era.
    Since joining the PacWest for baseball in 2009, DSU is 113-37 (.753) all-time vs. conference foes at Bruce Hurst Field and has won 10 or more games in each of those nine seasons, including 14 league win in both the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Dixie State has also held its own away from home as the Trailblazers own a 127-104-1 overall road record (.549) through 11 years of D-II competition with seven-straight winning road marks, including a 16-7-1 road record last year. The 16 road wins were the most in program history since its move to NCAA play in 2007.
    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 (9-10 in 19 games), Dixie State is 136-114-1 (.544) all-time away from Bruce Hurst Field in NCAA play.
    In PacWest play, Dixie State is 93-55-1 (.627) in true road games and 0-1 in one neutral-site game vs. Hawai'i Hilo during the 2013 season, which was played in Riverside, Calif. (at California Baptist) as a make-up game due to a rain out on the Islands earlier that season.
 
JUST WIN BABY: Dixie State extended its streak of winning 30 or more games to nine-straight seasons with its 39-win campaign of 2017. 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. In addition, the 39 games won this season is the second-most in program history. In 2016, DSU won a four-year program record 40 victories (40-14), which included a record-breaking 10-0 start to begin the season, its best overall start in the program's NCAA-era.
    DSU is 364-198-1 (.647) overall record in 11 years of NCAA Division II competition (557 games). The Trailblazers won its 300th game as a four-year program in the second game of a doubleheader at Holy Names (3/18/16).

WALK IT OFF: The Trailblazers recorded another "first" as they opened their 12th-season of NCAA competition with three-straight walk-off victories. Prior to this season, DSU only had two seasons that saw it record at least total three walk-off wins, including the 2008 campaign (3) and the 2012 season that featured a school-record five walk-off wins.
    Two of the three walk-off wins last week came against Cal State San Bernardino, the last of which featured a two-out, two-run home run off the bat of senior 1B Logan Porter (Surprise, Ariz./Valley Vista HS). Porter's walk-off homer is the third in program history and the first since former DSU shortstop Tanner Morache connected for a 10th-inning grand slam (the first walk-off GS in school history) in a 9-6 DSU win over Saint Martin's (2/21/16), while former OF Brett Adams hit the first walk-off homer, which came in a 9-8 home win over PacWest rival California Baptist (3/31/10).

BREAK OUT THE BATS: Dixie State had the bats going over the weekend as the Trailblazers hit .320 over the six games averaged 9.1 runs and 10.8 hits overall.
    Junior OH/DH Gabe Taylor (Pittsburg, Calif./Clayton Valley Charter School) was one of four batters who was listed on the line-up card in all six games and he responded by hitting an even .500 (11-for-22) with five RBI and two runs scored ... Taylor hit safely in five of his six offensive starts, including a 3-for-4 effort with an RBI in the his DSU debut vs. MSUB ... Taylor wound up with two three-hit games and two more two-hit outings overall.
    Coming off a record-setting junior campaign in 2017, senior 1B Logan Porter (Surprise, Ariz./Valley Vista HS) picked up right where he left off last weekend as he batted .350 (7-for-20) with four doubles, five RBI and eight runs scored ... Porter also connected for his first homer of the year, a walk-off two-run blast to left field to end game two vs. CSUSB.
    Senior C/DH Jake Davison (Taylorsville, Utah/Taylorsville HS) (.368, 4 RBI) reached base safely with a hit in all five of his starts with a pair of two-hit efforts in G2 vs. MSUB and the finale vs. CSUSB ... Sophomore Jake Engel (Tucson, Ariz./Ironwood HS) (.353; 6-for-17, 2 2B) paced the DSU offense with seven RBI, with three of those coming on his first collegiate HR, a three-run blast in G1 vs. CSUSB ... Engel also picked up two more RBI in the finale vs. MSUB ...  Engel was one of three Trailblazers who connected for their first collegiate home run on the weekend ... freshman 2B Alec Flemetakis (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) drilled a 3-2 pitch in his first collegiate AB over the left center field wall in the third inning of G2 vs. MSUB, while sophomore reserve 1B Braxton Ipson (St. George, Utah/Dixie HS) blasted a game-tying two-run HR in the fourth inning of G2 vs. CSUSB.
    Senior SS Kyle Hoffman (Taylorsville, Utah/Taylorsville HS) hit safely in five of his six starts on the weekend, but it was his first Trailblazer hit that he'll remember as he drove in the game-winning run on a sharp single through the left side in the season opener ... Hoffman (.318, five RBI) also collected two more hits and two RBI in the finale vs. MSUB ... junior reserve OF Kade Cloward (South Jordan, Utah/Bingham HS) picked up DSU's other GW-RBI on an 11th-inning single in G1 vs. CSUSB ... that hit earned the junior two starts in both series finales and he responded with base hits in both games, including a double with an RBI in the final game of the homestand vs. CSUSB ... after scuffling through the first three games of the year, junior OF Kade Urban hit safely in the final three games, which featured a two-hit outing in G2 vs. CSUSB, and a 3-for-4 effort with three RBI in finale vs. the Coyotes.
    In all, DSU connected for five home runs in the six games ... junior 3B Bryce Feist (Emmett, Idaho/Rocky Mountain HS) hit the team's second HR of the year with a fifth-inning two-run shot in G2 vs. MSUB, which was part of a two-hit, three-RBI game ... Feist hit a combined .304 over his six starts (7-for-23) with one double, five RBI and eight runs scored.

JOHNNY WHOLESTAFF: Dixie State employed 17 pitchers to get through the six games in what really could be described as a tale of two series last weekend.
    Against CSUSB, the Trailblazer staff posted a 3-0 record with a 2.33 ERA, and held Coyote hitters to a .240 average (25-for-104) in the series. However the script was flipped in the three games vs. MSUB as DSU surrendered 40 total runs (39 earned), while the staff was touched up for a .380 opponent batting average (46-for-121) and a 13.00 ERA.
    Senior LHP Matt Mosca (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) posted the rotation's lone victory of the homestand as he fired 5.1 innings of five-hit, two-run (one earned) baseball with five strikeouts in the finale vs. CSUSB ... junior RHP Jayden Murray (Vernal, Utah/Uintah HS) also enjoyed a solid Trailblazer debut as he struck out eight and allowed just one run and two hits in four innings in the opener vs. CSUSB ... junior RHP Gabe Taylor (Pittsburg, Calif./Clayton Valley Charter School) not only shined with the bat last weekend, but he also got the job done with his right arm ... Taylor started game two vs. CSUSB and scattered two runs and six hits over 5.2 innings with a pair of strikeouts, though he did not figure into the decision.
    The DSU bullpen collected three of the team's four wins, including two decisions for junior reliever Tyler Rosas (Twin Falls, Idaho/Canyon Ridge HS) in both series openers vs. MSUB and CSUSB ... senior closer RHP Tanner Howell (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City HS) picked up his first win of the year in game two vs. CSUSB ... Howell appeared in two games over the weekend and struck out five while allowing just one hit and two walks in 4.0 IP ... freshman RHP Brecken Lewis (Cedar City, Utah/Cedar HS) co-led the staff with three total appearances, giving up only three hits and two walks over five scoreless innings of work ... fellow freshman RHP Jake Reed (Flagstaff, Ariz./Coconino HS) also enjoyed a solid outing, hurling 3.2 innings of scoreless relief in G2 vs. MSUB ... junior RHP Chandler Greenfield (Twin Falls, Idaho/Twin Falls HS) made his DSU debut in the season opener vs. MSUB and responded with five strikeouts in three innings.  

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State continues its road swing and opens its final Pacific West Conference season with a four-game set at Point Loma next weekend, Feb. 23-24, in San Diego.