Game Times (Mountain):
Thursday (DH) - 2 p.m.
Friday - 4 p.m.
Saturday - 12 noon
Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | APU
Audio/Video: None
Live Stats: www.sidearmstats.com/dixie/baseball
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Base | #BlazeForward | #PacWestBASE | #d2bsb
 
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Thursday (G1) – LHP Matt Mosca (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) (1-2, 3.94 ERA) vs. RHP Isaiah Carranza (4-0, 2.63 ERA)
Thursday (G2) – RHP Nick Bonniksen (Camino, Calif./El Dorado HS) (0-1, 13.50 ERA) vs. LHP Kale Morton (2-0, 4.11 ERA)
Friday (G3) – RHP Jayden Murray (Vernal, Utah/Uintah HS) (0-2, 4.50 ERA) vs. RHP Dillon Miyashiro (3-0, 3.60 ERA)
Saturday (G4) – TBA vs. RHP Layne Henderson (1-0, 3.18 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: Dixie State (5-9/1-3 PacWest) returns home to the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field for a pivotal four-game Pacific West Conference weekend series against No. 1 Azusa Pacific (14-0/4-0 PacWest). The series will open with a doubleheader on Thursday, March 1, beginning at 2 p.m., followed by single games on Friday, March 2 at 4 p.m., and the series finale on Saturday, March 3, at 12 noon.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Dixie State trails in its nine-year series vs. Azusa Pacific, 14-16, though the Trailblazers have won 11 of the last 18 meetings overall. DSU and APU have split the last 16 games played over the past four seasons, including a 2-2 series split in a de facto PacWest championship series in Azusa last season, which allowed the Cougars to clinch their first conference title by one-half game over the Trailblazers. In addition, the two side also split a four-game set played in St. George during the 2016 season.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State began its final PacWest season on a sour note as the Trailblazers dropped three of four at Point Loma last weekend in San Diego. DSU was swept in a Friday doubleheader, 9-4 and 2-1, before rallying twice for a 12-9 win in 10 innings in the first game of a Saturday twin bill. However the Trailblazers could not secure a series split as PLNU blanked Dixie State in the finale, 3-0. 

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 184-90-1 (.671) overall record at DSU, including a 126-49-1 (.718) record in PacWest play, and a 236-149-1 (.612) 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 dropping seven of eight games on the road over the past two weeks, Dixie State fell out of both the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's (NCBWA) and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper top-25 polls, along with the NCBWA West region 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 in January 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.

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: Despite the results over the past two weeks, Dixie State has also held its own away from home as the Trailblazers own a 128-111-1 overall road record (.535) 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 137-121-1 (.531) all-time away from Bruce Hurst Field in NCAA play.
    In PacWest play, Dixie State is 94-58-1 (.617) 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 365-205-1 (.640) overall record in 11-plus years of NCAA Division II competition (571 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).
    DSU also posted another win in its final at-bat in game three at PLNU, a game the Trailblazers won by a 12-9 count in 10 innings.

FREE BASEBALL: Dixie State has already played in two extra inning games through 14 dates this season, this after only playing in a total of three extra-inning games in 54 dates last season.
    Dating back to last season, the Trailblazers have won four-straight extra inning games overall, and have improved to 29-13 (.690) in 42 total extra-inning games in the program's four-year era. 

ROCKIN' THE 'STACHE: Forget the "Fear The Beard" mantra, since Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer's arrival at Dixie State, his teams have created a "Mustache March" tradition, and by all accounts, it's pretty effective. Thanks to the power of the mustache, Dixie State has played to a 75-19 (.798) overall record in the month of March over the past five seasons, including a 14-5 mark last year, and a 19-2 record in March of 2014.

TEAM NOTES: Senior 1B Logan Porter (Surprise, Ariz./Valley Vista HS) (.372/1HR/9RBI) batted .455 (5-for-11) with a double and two RBI last weekend at PLNU, including the game-winning RBI - the 81st RBI of his career - on a bases-loaded walk in the 10 inning in G3 ... Porter drew six walks in the PLNU series and has drawn 14 free passes in 14 starts this season ... Porter is now 10 RBI shy of cracking into the top-10 on DSU's career RBI list ... Porter has hit safely in nine of 14 games this season, including a three-hit outing in the opener at PLNU.
    Senior C Jake Davison (Taylorsville, Utah/Taylorsville HS) (.333/8RBI) has hit in five-straight overall and batted .429 (6-of-14) at PLNU with two doubles and three total RBI.
    Junior 3B Bryce Feist (Emmett, Idaho/Rocky Mountain HS) (.250/2HR/9RBI) connected for his team-leading second home run on the young season with a solo shot in the sixth inning of G2 at CMU ... Feist batted .300 (3-for-10) in three starts at PLNU with a pair of doubles, one RBI and four runs scored.
    Junior RF/DH/RHP Gabe Taylor (Pittsburg, Calif./Clayton Valley Charter School) (.348/5RBI) collected his team-leading third three-hit game of the season in DSU's G3 win at PLNU ... Taylor legged out DSU's first triple of the year and finished with a career and DSU player season-high four runs scored.
    Freshman reserve catcher Jake Foster (Bountiful, Utah/Woods Cross HS) made his first collegiate hit a memorable one, reaching on a big two-out, two-run single down the left field line in the seventh inning of DSU's G3 win at PLNU.
    Senior LHP Matt Mosca (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS), who will start the opener vs. APU on Thursday, tied a career-high with seven strikeouts over five innings in G1 at PLNU.
    Senior RHP Tanner Howell (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City HS) collected DSU's lone win of the PLNU series with an "Iron Man" performance in G3, during which he scattered five hits and two runs with three strikeouts in 4.1 innings of relief to close out the win and move to 2-0 on the season ... Howell's 4.1 IP were the most since his freshman year when he started in six of 12 total appearances.
    Junior RHP Jayden Murray (Vernal, Utah/Uintah HS), who will take the ball in game three vs. APU, enjoyed another solid start in G2 at PLNU, during which he surrendered one run and seven hits with four Ks in 4.0 IP.
    Senior southpaw Brad Danzeisen (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) appeared in all four games at PLNU, giving up just one run and four hits with two strikeouts in 2.1 innings of work overall.
    Sophomore righthander Brayden Bonner (Murray, Utah/Cottonwood HS) pitched a solid 4.2 innings of relief over two appearances at PLNU, scattering four hits and one earned run (two total) with four punch outs.
    Through 14 games this season, DSU is averaging 5.8 runs and 8.4 hits per game with a .263 team batting average ... Though it is trending down, DSU's pitching staff owns a 6.75 ERA, while Trailblazer hurlers have combined for 96 strikeouts in 116.0 IP.

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State heads back out on the road for an eight-game trip to the Bay Area next weekend. The Trailblazers open the trip with a four-game series at Academy of Art on March 10-12, followed by a four-game set at Holy Names on March 15-17.