Dixie State dropped the second game of its regular-season ending series at No. 1/No. 5 Colorado Mesa by a 9-4 count on Friday night at Suplizio Field.

The top-ranked Mavericks (40-8/28-6 RMAC) broke open a scoreless ballgame with four runs in the home third thanks to a pair of two-run home runs from Hunter Douglas and Haydn McGeary. Dixie State got one of those runs back in the fourth when Kaid Urban cashed in a pair of one-out walks with an RBI-single to cut the deficit to 4-1.

That would be as close as the Trailblazers (32-16/22-12 RMAC) would get as CMU tacked on two insurance runs in the fifth to extend to a 6-1 advantage. CMU then went on to add single runs in both the sixth and seventh frames to bolster the start of Maverick ace Garrett Hutson, who struck out 10 and limited DSU three hits over 7.0 innings of work.

Dixie State did manage to pull to within striking distance at 8-4 with two outs in the eighth as Tanner Harper connected on his first collegiate homer, a three-run blast over the left field wall.

The Trailblazers had six-straight hitters reach with two outs in that stanza, including walks to Tyson Fisher, Wyatt Branch, and Urban after the Harper homer to load the bases and bring up the potential tying run. However the Maverick bullpen managed to escape further damage in the frame and would keep Dixie State off the board in the ninth to end the game.

DSU finished with six hits on the night, with Harper's round-tripper serving as the lone extra-base hit for the Blazers. Senior righthander Jayden Murray (L, 9-3) struck out four but did surrender six runs and four hits in 4.2 innings pitched to suffer just his third loss of the season.

The Trailblazers and Mavericks will wrap up their series and the 2019 regular season with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12 noon.