Game Times at PLNU (Mountain):
Friday (DH) - 12 noon
Saturday (DH) - 12 noon
Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | PLNU
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PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – LHP Matt Mosca (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) (1-1, 3.27 ERA) vs. LHP Garrett Irvin (2-0, 2.37 ERA)
Friday (G2) – RHP Jayden Murray (Vernal, Utah/Uintah HS) (0-1, 5.62 ERA) vs. RHP Trevor Abshire (1-1, 2.87 ERA)
Saturday (G3) – LHP Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, Idaho/Highland HS) (0-1, 10.80 ERA) vs. LHP Stephen Young (0-2, 6.42 ERA)
Saturday (G4) – RHP Gabe Taylor (Pittsburg, Calif./Clayton Valley Charter School) (0-1, 6.52 ERA) vs. TBA

FIRST PITCH: Dixie State (4-6/0-0 PacWest) opens its final season of Pacific West Conference play this weekend as the Trailblazers head to San Diego for a four-game weekend series at Point Loma (4-5/0-0 PacWest). The series will be played in a pair of doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday starting each day at 11 a.m. (PT), at PLNU's Carroll B. Land Stadium. 

ALL-TIME SERIES: Dixie State owns a 13-9 overall series lead vs. Point Loma, which includes a four-game sweep of the Sea Lions last season in St. George, The sweep broke a 9-9 series deadlock, though DSU has won 11 of the last 16 meetings overall. The last time the two sides met in San Diego in 2016, the two sides split a four-game set.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State opened road portion of its 2018 slate on a sour note as the Trailblazers were swept in four-game series at future Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) rival No. 4/3 Colorado Mesa last weekend in Grand Junction.

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 183-87-1 (.677) overall record at DSU, including a 125-46-1 (.727) record in PacWest play, and a 235-146-1 (.616) 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: After going winless last weekend at CMU, Dixie State fell out of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's (NCBWA) top-25 poll, though DSU is still ranked preseason No. 15 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll, while that poll will be updated next week.
    The Trailblazers did remain in the NCBWA West region poll at T-8th with Cal Poly Pomona. Fellow PacWest members Azusa Pacific (No. 1 in both the NCBWA national and regional polls) and California Baptist (No. 2 in the NCBWA regional/No. 18 in the national poll) both sit atop the NCBWA regional 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 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.

OPENING PACWEST PLAY: Dixie State is 22-14 (.611) all-time in nine PacWest season-opening series overall, while DSU has played to a 26-9 (.743) record in its first conference road sets. 

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 127-108-1 overall road record (.540) through 11-plus 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 136-118-1 (.535) 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 364-202-1 (.643) overall record in 11-plus years of NCAA Division II competition (567 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).

TEAM NOTES: Sophomore Jake Engel (Tucson, Ariz./Ironwood HS) paced the Trailblazer offense in the CMU series, hitting .583 (7-of-12) with one double and one run scored ... Engel recorded his first collegiate three-hit game in the series opener, which included that double ... Engel has hit safely in five-straight games overall and leads the team in average (.448) and RBI (8).
    Senior 1B Logan Porter (Surprise, Ariz./Valley Vista HS) (.344/1HR/7RBI) collected two more RBI over the weekend, giving him seven for the season and leaving him (79 RBI) 12 RBI shy of cracking into the top-10 on DSU's career RBI list ... Porter has hit safely in six of 10 games this season, including four-straight two-hit starts spanning the final two games of the Cal State San Bernardino series and the first two games at CMU last weekend.
    Junior 3B Bryce Feist (Emmett, Idaho/Rocky Mountain HS) (.235/2HR/7RBI) connected for his second home run on the young season with a solo shot in the sixth inning of G2 at CMU ... Feist wound up with both RBI in that 5-2 loss.
    Saturday's game three starter junior LHP Aaron Pope (Chubbuck, Idaho/Highland HS) bounced back from a rough 2018 debut with a solid start in game three at CMU ... Pope fired 4.2 innings of four-hit, one run baseball with two strikeouts, but came out on the wrong end of a 1-0 decision.
    Senior LHP Matt Mosca (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS), who will start the opener at PLNU on Friday, struck out three while scattering five hits and three runs over 5.2 innings in G2 at CMU.
    Senior RHP Tanner Howell (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City HS) has stepped up to be a stopper out of the DSU bullpen in the early going ... Howell has fanned six and surrendered just five hits in 7.0 scoreless innings of relief spanning three appearances.
    Freshman RHP Brecken Lewis (Cedar City, Utah/Cedar HS) has also shined out of the bullpen, having allowed one run and five hits in four appearances (5.2 IP) with three strikeouts.
    Through 10 games this season, DSU is averaging 6.5 runs and 8.6 hits per game with a .269 team batting average ... Though it is trending down, DSU's pitching staff owns a 7.29 ERA, while Trailblazer hurlers has combined for 65 strikeouts in 84.0 IP.

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State returns home for a four-game PacWest series against No. 1 Azusa Pacific next weekend (March 1-3) at Bruce Hurst Field.