Dixie State came away with a pair of come-from-behind victories in the middle two games of its four-game RMAC series with Colorado Christian Saturday afternoon at Bruce Hurst Field. The Trailblazers rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk-off with a 7-6 win in the game one, then pushed their winning streak to four-straight with an 8-4 triumph in the seven-inning nightcap.
In a reversal of Friday night's series opener, the Cougars (12-32/7-24 RMAC) bolted out of the gate with three runs in their opening at-bat en route to an early lead. Dixie State came back with a run of its own in the home first, however the two teams matched run-for-run over the next three frames as CCU managed to maintain its two-run advantage.
In the DSU seventh, the Trailblazers quickly loaded the bases with no outs thanks to a lead-off
Tyson Fisher single, while
Cade Spurlin walked and
Wyatt Branch was hit by a pitch to reach carrying the potential game-winning run.
Kaid Urban then stepped up and drilled a double to the gap in right center to drive in Fisher and pinch runner
Kade Cloward to tie the score at 6-6.
Jake Brown would be intentionally walked to again load the bases ahead of
Braxton Ipson, who drilled the first pitch he saw passed a drawn-in, five-infielder defensive set-up by the Cougars to complete the comeback.
Dixie State (31-14/21-10 RMAC) pounded out 10 hits in that first game as each Trailblazer starter collected at least one hit. Junior southpaw
Tevita Gerber (W, 3-0) fired 2.1 innings of one-hit shutout relief to pick up his second win in as many appearances.
In the nightcap, the Blazers jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on the strength a two-out, first-inning solo home run from Fisher, while
Joe Raymond doubled home
Alec Flemetakis, who himself doubled with one-out in the second. CCU would come back with an unearned run in the third and two more runs after a third DSU error in the fourth inning to erase the deficit and take a 3-2 lead.
However the Trailblazers would reclaim their advantage in the home half of the fourth, plating three runs on just one hit, but it was a big one as Cloward doubled in two runs with two outs to give DSU a 5-3 cushion.
After CCU pushed across a run in the sixth, Dixie State put the game away with three unearned runs of its own in the home half of the stanza as the Blazers took advantage of two costly Cougar errors to extend to a four-run lead. Senior reliever
Tyler Rosas (W, 2-3) then retired the Cougars in order in the seventh to close out the win.
The Trailblazers will look to complete the series sweep in their 2019 regular season home finale on Senior Day Sunday beginning at 12 noon.