Game Times (Mountain):
(G1) Friday - 6 p.m.
(G2) Saturday - 2 p.m.
(G3) Saturday - 5 p.m. (approx.)
(G4) Sunday - 12 noon
Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | CSU-P
Audio/Video: LIVE VIDEO HERE
Live Stats: vs. CSU-P
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Base | #DixieBlazers | #RMACbase | #D2Baseball
 
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – RHP Jayden Murray (5-2, 2.88 ERA) vs. RHP Beau Brieske (3-3, 3.69 ERA)
Saturday (G2) – LHP Jack Gonzales (5-0, 3.14 ERA) vs. RHP Josh Dahl (4-2, 3.95 ERA)
Saturday (G3) – RHP Preston Hannay (3-1, 5.52 ERA) vs. RHP Brett Matthews (1-2, 7.50 ERA)
Sunday (G4) – RHP Tyler Rosas (1-1, 1.86 ERA) vs. RHP Nick Zappala (2-1, 6.75 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: No. 25 Dixie State (20-6/10-2 RMAC) returns home for a key four-game RMAC series against Colorado State-Pueblo (13-12/8-4 RMAC) this weekend at Bruce Hurst Field. The series opener will be played on Friday night at 6 p.m., followed by a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 2 p.m., and Sunday's finale will take place at 12 noon.

ALL-TIME SERIES: This weekend's series vs. Colorado State-Pueblo will mark the first time that the Trailblazers and ThunderWolves have faced each other on the baseball diamond.

LAST TIME OUT: The Trailblazers came away with a split on their second RMAC road trip of the season last weekend at New Mexico Highlands. DSU saw its eight-game winning streak stopped in an 11-8 loss in the opening game its four-game set, then dropped its second-straight game for only the second time this season in a 4-3 setback in game two. Then the Blazer bat woke up as Dixie State went on to outscore the Cowboys 32-8 over the final two games of the series to salvage the series split. The Trailblazers rolled to a 12-1 triumph in game three, then posted a convincing 20-7 win in the finale. 

COACHING STAFF: Two-time Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year Chris Pfatenhauer is in his seventh season as head coach of the Dixie State Baseball program. Since his arrival in summer of 2012, Pfatenhauer has never had a losing season at Dixie State, and in the process, led the Trailblazers to consecutive PacWest titles in 2014 and 2015, and to five-straight trips to the NCAA West Regionals from 2013-17, including serving as the host institution in 2013.
    Pfatenhauer, who picked up his 200th victory as DSU skipper in the series opener at Concordia-Irvine (8-1; 4/26/18) last season, owns a 224-112-1 (.666) overall record at DSU, and a 276-171-1 (.617) career mark.
    Joining Pfatenhauer (UNLV, 2000) in the Trailblazer dugout this season is first-year pitching coach Joe Haumacher (Old Dominion, 2011), along with fifth-year assistant coaches Matt Hill (Dixie State 2015), and Bobby Rinard (Arizona, 2014), and first-year assistant coaches Trevor Amicone (Weber State, 2012) and former DSU infielder Tyler Mildenberg (Dixie State, 2018). 

DSU IN THE POLLS: Dixie State's series split at NMHU last weekend dropped the Trailblazers down or out in all three polls this week. The Trailblazers fell nine spots to No. 25 in this week's NCBWA Top-25 poll, and they fell one spot to No. 4 in the latest NCBWA South Central Regional rankings. In addition, DSU checked in just out of the top-30 (No. 31 overall) in this week's Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top-30 national poll.

HI, MY NAME IS ....: After 11 years as a member of the Pacific West Conference, Dixie State embarks on its first season as full members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in 2019.
    The Trailblazers won four PacWest baseball titles (2009, 2011, 2014, 2015) over their conference membership and posted a 227-112-1 overall record (.669) in 340 league games. Dixie State also made six-straight NCAA West Regional appearances (2012-17) during its run in the PacWest.

TRAILBLAZERS VOTED THIRD IN RMAC PRESEASON POLL: Dixie State was picked to finish third in the 2019 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference baseball preseason coaches' poll released back on Jan. 24. Despite being picked third in the poll, DSU did not land any players on the preseason all-RMAC team.
    Defending RMAC regular season and tournament champion Colorado Mesa collected eight of a possible 10 first place votes to claim the top spot in the poll with 80 points, while 2018 conference runner-up Colorado School of Mines tallied 69 points to finish second. Dixie State picked up the other two first place votes and 64 total points to secure the third spot, and Colorado State-Pueblo and MSU Denver each finished with 49 points to tie for fourth to round out the top-half of the 10-team poll.

HOME SWEET HOME: Dixie State has played to a 253-95 (.727) overall record inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field since becoming an NCAA Division II program in 2006-07, including a 12-4 start this season. In addition, DSU has posted a winning record at home in all 12 seasons of NCAA play, which included a 17-9 home mark last season.
    Dixie State has won 20 or more games in seven of those 12 seasons, including 21-5 (.807) record in 2017, 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 home wins that year were the most under Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer, while the .807 winning percentage in 2017 was the best during the Pfatenhauer era.
    In PacWest play, DSU was 126-44 (.741) all-time at Bruce Hurst Field and won 10 or more games in each of those 10 seasons, including 13 league wins last year and 14 victories in both the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Despite finishing with an 8-16 road record in 2018, Dixie State has held its own away from home as the Trailblazers own a 142-122-1 overall road record (.537) through 12-plus years of D-II competition, which includes a 7-2 start this season, and a winning road record in seven of their last eight seasons overall, highlighted by a 16-7-1 road mark in 2017. 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 of it last nine seasons overall. When you also figure in neutral-site games (10-10 in 20 games), Dixie State is 152-132-1 (.535) all-time away from Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era.
    In PacWest play, Dixie State was 99-65-1 (.603) 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's 25-25 record last season marked the end of an impressive streak that saw DSU win 30 or more games in nine-straight seasons. In fact, DSU had won 35 of more games in four of those campaigns, including three of the last four years under Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer, highlighted by 39 wins in 2017 and a four-year program record 40 victories (40-14) in 2016, The 2016 campaign also included a record-breaking 10-0 start to begin the season, which was the best overall start in the program's NCAA-era.

IT'S NOT HOW YOU START....: The Trailblazers' 20-6 start to the 2019 season is tied for the best-overall start by a Dixie State baseball team through the midway point of the regular season in the program's NCAA era. DSU also started 20-6 to kick-off the 2016 season, which began with the program-record 10-game winning streak, and matched one year later in 2017.

HERE'S TO THE NEXT 400: Dixie State picked up its 400th win in the program's NCAA era in the series opener vs. UCCS. DSU is 405-227-1 (.640) all-time through 12-plus years of NCAA Division II competition (633 games).

WHAT THE BLANK: Dixie State made a little history in its season-opening win at Cal State San Bernardino (2/1) as the Trailblazers posted their first-ever "Opening Day" shutout in the 11-0 triumph.
     In fact, if you figure in the near no-no against Saint Martin's (W, 4-1) later in the day, the Trailblazer pitching staff opened the 2019 season with 16.2 innings of shutout baseball and surrendered just four total hits and one run in the two games.

WALK IT OFF: The Trailblazers collected their first walk-off win of the year in the series finale vs. Montana State Billings (2/24). Last season, Dixie State posted a school-record eight walk-off wins, including three last at-bat triumphs over California Baptist to close the 2018 campaign in the final PacWest series for both teams, the last of which also came on a walk-off home run.

FREE BASEBALL: Dixie State played in four extra inning games last season and posted a 3-1 record. Dating back to the 2016 season, the Trailblazers have won five of their last six extra inning games overall, and are 31-14 (.682) in 45 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 their own facial hair tradition - "Mustache March," and judging by past season results, it's been very effective. Thanks to the power of the mustache, Dixie State has played to a 95-33 (.742) overall record in the month of March over the past six-plus seasons, including a 10-4 mark this March, along with a 14-5 record in 2017 and a 19-2 record in March of 2014.

THE X(BH)-MEN: Dixie State pounded out 39 extra base hits (out of the 68 total base hits) in the series sweep at Adams State in its RMAC debut three weekends ago, which included school records for doubles (9), home runs (7), XHB (17), along with total hits (28), in the series finale. DSU wound up with 22 doubles and five triples, and posted an .866 SLG%, in the four game set.
    The Trailblazers followed that up with 16 XBH vs. UCCS (3/16-18), and 22 more XBH last weekend at NMHU, which included 15 doubles and six home runs.

FISHER LANDS DSU'S FIRST CYCLE: Freshman 3B Tyson Fisher (.405/5 HR/24 RBI) became the first Trailblazers in the program's NCAA era to hit for the cycle in last Sunday's series finale at NMHU. Fisher pounded out a career-high five hits (5-for-5) in the game to go with career-highs of five RBI and four runs scored.
    Overall, Fisher hit a team-best .625 (10-for-16) in the series with six XBH, seven RBI and eight runs scored. In fact, he has legged out 13 XBH in 12 RMAC games (7 2B/3 3B/3 HR) while batting .465 in league play, and currently leads the team in batting at .405.

IT'S UP THERE, IT'S OUT THERE, IT'S GONE!!: We have reached the halfway point of the 2019 regular season and Dixie State has already eclipsed last season's home run total (24 in 50 games) with 35 long balls (No. 8 all-time on single season list) through 26 games, with six of those homers coming last weekend at NMHU and 24 total HRs through 12 RMAC games overall.
     Junior Jake Engel homered twice vs. Cowboys last weekend and has hit five of his team-high 10 HRs (T-3rd in RMAC) in conference play. In fact, he along with fellow junior Lane Pritchard went back-to-back to lead off the seventh inning in the finale at NMHU, which marked the second-straight series DSU has achieved that feat. In the series finale vs. UCCS (3/18), junior Cade Spurlin and Engel led off the sixth with consecutive HRs, that feat marked the first time since the 2016 season that DSU had hit back-to-back homers in an inning (Jake Davison/Tyler Mildenberg vs. Hawai'i Pacific, 4/23/16).
    The Trailblazers hit 12 home runs at Adams State three weeks ago in their RMAC debut, with eight different Trailblazers hit at least one HR in the series, highlighted by a school record four-homer game from senior OF Brody Clifford in the series finale (3/10), which included two solo HRs, a three-run shot and a grand slam en route to a school record-tying nine RBI.
    The first of Clifford's record four home runs was a lead-off shot on the second pitch of the game, which marked first time since the 2016 season that a Trailblazer led off a game with a HR (Tanner Morache at Point Loma; 4/8/16).
    In addition, Jake Brown, Clifford and Braxton Ipson all homered in the fifth inning in that series finale, which marked just the third time in the program's NCAA era that DSU had three players homer in one inning. In 2007, Jesse Stone, Kyle Pratt and Jordan Daley all homered in the first inning in a win over Northwest Nazarene (3/20/07), while Jordan Hanley, Jimmy Dever and Alex Rosenhan achieved the feat in the ninth inning vs. Lewis-Clark State (5/2/09) two seasons later.  
    Of note, DSU's NCAA-era record for homers in a season is 68 set in 2009.

ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS: In all, the Trailblazers combined to break or tie a total of 16 single-game records in the finale at Adams State (3/10), including new team records for HR (7), RBI (27), at-bats (52) and total bases (60). In addition, DSU's 28 runs scored and its 19-run margin of victory tied the single game records for both set, coincidentally, in another 28-9 victory nearly 10 full seasons ago at home vs. Hawai'i Hilo (3/28/09). Meanwhile, the 37 combined runs scored were tied for second-most in the program's NCAA era.
    DSU also combined to score 68 total runs in the four-game set, which eclipsed the previous record of 52 set nearly 10 years ago to the weekend in a four-game sweep of Academy of Art (3/16-17/09). Clifford and Fisher led the Blazers with nine runs scored apiece, while seven DSU base runners collected at least five runs scored overall in the series.

TEAM NOTES
* - Junior 1B/OF/DH Jake Engel has opened the 2019 season on a tear as he has hit safely in 22 of his first 26 games on his way to a .393 average (35-of-89) with team-highs of 10 home runs and 26 RBI, along with a co-team best three triples ... Engel has hit safely in 11 of 12 RMAC games and is batting .410 against conference foes (16-for-39) with two triples, five HRs and 14 RBI ... Engel, who came into the 2019 season with two career HRs, has already collected a team-best 18 XBH through 26 games (5 2B/3 3B/10 HR).
* - Junior 1B Braxton Ipson enjoyed a solid offensive series at NHMU as he hit .385 with a pair of doubles, his third HR of the of year in G3, and four RBI ... sophomore 2B Tyler Hollow drove in six runs over four starts at NMHU to go with an even .400 average (6-for-15) with two doubles and three runs.  
* - Junior C Cade Spurlin (.403/5 HR/17 RBI) is batting .400 (14-for-35) in RMAC play this season (12 games) and has driven in 10 of his 17 RBI and hit three of his five HRs on the season against league opponents ... Spurlin has hit safely in 15 of his last 20 games and is batting .416 over that stretch with eight multi-hit games.
* - Senior SS/3B Bryce Feist (.348/1 HR/18 RBI) has been one of DSU's hottest hitters of late, hitting .483 (14-of-29) over his last nine games, including a
.400 clip with one homer and a team-high eight RBI in the UCCS series, followed by an even .500 (6-for-12) average in four starts at NMHU with two doubles and two RBI ... Feist also stole a base (7-for-7 SB this season) and finished with four runs scored ... senior OF Kaid Urban also hit .500 (4-for-8) in the NMHU series with a double, three RBI and two runs scored.  
* - Junior RF Lane Pritchard (.353/5 RBI) has been a run-scoring machine for the Trailblazers as hit crossed home plate 21 times over his last 18 games, including six runs scored last week at NMHU... Pritchard hit .467 (7-for-15) in the NMHU series, which included his first HR in a DSU uniform to go with three doubles, seven RBI and two stolen bases ... Pritchard is tied with Engel for the team lead in runs scored with 30 in 26 starts to go with a .352 average.
* - Junior closer Brayden Bonner (2-0/2.19 ERA/15 K) picked up his second victory of the season in the finale at NMHU on Sunday after he tossed two innings of two-hit relief, allowing just one unearned run with two strikeouts ... Bonner collected his team-high seventh save (7-for-7 in save opportunities) in G3 vs. UCCS (3/17) ... Bonner's seven saves already ranks him t-ninth on DSU's NCAA-era single save list and eighth in career saves.  
* - Senior RHP Jayden Murray (5-2/2.88 ERA) posted a complete-game five-hitter in the series-opener vs. UCCS (3/16) ... Murray struck out eight and limited the potent UCCS offense to just one third inning run, then proceeded to retire 16-straight Mountain Lions and 20 of the final 22 UCCS hitters he faced en route to his first 9-inning CG in a DSU uniform ... Murray's 9IP complete game was the first by a DSU pitcher since former Blazer southpaw Matt Mosca went the distance on the road at Concordia-Irvine (W, 8-1, 4/26/18), and it was the first at home since former Blazer RHP Mason Hilty (11-0/4/7/17) posted a complete-game shutout vs. Academy of Art during the 2017 season.
* - Murray struck out a career-high 10 and surrendered two earned runs (four total) and seven hits in 5.0 IP to earn the decision in G2 at ASU (3/9) ... Murray's 10 strikeouts were the most by a DSU pitcher since former DSU hurler and current Milwaukee Brewer farmhand Dylan File struck out 11 in a complete-game three-hit shutout win over MSUB (2/24/17) during the 2017 season.
* - Murray, who will start the opener vs. CSUP on Friday, has now pitched enough innings to qualify to become DSU's current career-leader in K/9IP (7.861) and is currently third in fewest career BB/9IP (2.221) ... Murray enters this weekend currently first on the season K/9IP (10.17), which includes seven Ks last week at NMHU (G2, 3/23/19) list and fifth in fewest BB/9IP (1.549).
* - Sophomore LHP Jack Gonzales (5-0/3.14 ERA/27 K), who will start G2 vs. CSUP Saturday, won for the fifth time in six starts in game three at NMHU last Saturday after he fired six innings of four-hit baseball and allowed just one run and struck out a career-high eight in the Trailblazers' 12-1 victory ... Gonzales leads all SPs with a .176 OBA ...
* - Junior reliever Colton Harris (2-0/0.75 ERA/17 K) collected his first save out of the DSU bullpen in G3 vs. UCCS (3/17), while senior RHP Tyler Rosas (1-1, 2.35 ERA/8 K) picked up his first winning decision of the year and the DSU bullpen's sixth win on the year overall ... Rosas, who will start the finale vs. CSUP on Sunday, also pitched two ShO innings with a pair of strikeouts in G2 at NMHU.
* - Through 26 games this season, DSU is averaging 9.2 runs and 11.2 hits per game with a .337 team batting average, though those numbers were bolstered in the Adams State series as the Blazers averaged 17.0 hits and 17.0 runs with a robust .433 batting average over those four games ... Dixie State also hit a robust .387 at NMHU and averaged nearly 11 runs and 13.2 hits in the series.
* - DSU enters this week 41-for-50 in the stolen base department, which includes an impressive 21-for-24 over its last 12 games (13-of-13 at ASU).
* - Meanwhile the Trailblazer pitching staff owns a 4.79 team ERA heading into this weekend's series vs. CSUP ... DSU pitchers have held opposing hitters to a .263 average through 26 games this season overall, which includes a .225 clip vs. UCCS two weeks ago, and have combined for 207 strikeouts in 216.0 IP.

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State begins an eight-game road swing next weekend with a four-game series at Colorado School of Mines on April 5-7.