No. 25 Dixie State won its third-straight Friday night as the Trailblazers raced past Colorado State-Pueblo in the opening game of a four-game RMAC series at Bruce Hurst Field.
In a game that featured two of the best pitchers in the RMAC conference, DSU senior ace
Jayden Murray matched CSU-P's Beau Brieske zero for zero over the opening three innings of play. The ThunderWolves (13-13/8-5 RMAC) would draw first blood in the fourth with a two-out Rion Santamaria RBI-single through the right side to plate the game's first run.
Daniel Abiles followed that up with a double to the gap in right center, which chased Santamaria to third base. However CSU-P would be denied a potential second run as
Tyler Hollow relayed a strong
Lane Pritchard throw to catcher
Cade Spurlin, who tagged the baserunner at the plate to keep it a one-run game.
Meanwhile the Trailblazers (21-6/11-2 RMAC) were set down in order over the first three innings, but DSU would solve Brieske (L, 3-4) in the home half of the fourth to the tune of five runs and five hits to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Pritchard reached on a one-out single ahead of
Jake Engel, who drove a 1-0 Brieske offering over the centerfield wall for his team-leading 11
th home run of the season to put his side up 2-1.
Spurlin followed that up with a single and advanced to third on a
Tyson Fisher double. Hollow then stepped up and laced an opposite field double down the left field line to score both baserunners and would advance to third on the relay throw. Hollow would go on to score the fifth run of the rally one batter later on a
Kaid Urban squeeze bunt.
With a four-run cushion to work with, Murray shut down CSU-P from there as the righthander retired eight-straight and nine of the final 10 batters he faced. The Trailblazers added an insurance run in the sixth, followed with three more runs in seventh, and would cruise from there for their 11
th win in the last 13 games overall.
Spurlin and Hollow paced the DSU offense with two hits apiece as Dixie State outhit the ThunderWolves 10-7. Murray (W, 6-2) struck out eight and scattered one run and six hits over seven complete innings of work to win for the sixth time in eight starts overall.
The two teams will continue their four-game series with a pair of seven-inning games on Saturday beginning 2 p.m.