Game Times (Mountain):
Wednesday, May 8
Game #1 - 11 a.m.: No. 3 seed Dixie State vs. No. 4 seed Colorado-Colorado Springs (28-22)
Game #2 - 3 p.m.: No. 1 seed #1/#4 Colorado Mesa (41-9) vs. No. 6 seed Colorado State-Pueblo (26-23)
Game #3 - 7 p.m.: No. 2 seed #29/#22 Colorado School of Mines (36-11) vs. No. 5 seed MSU Denver (27-22)

Thursday, May 9
Game #4 - 11 a.m.: Loser of Game #2 vs. Loser of Game #3 (elimination game)
Game #5 - 3 p.m.: Winner of Game #2 vs. Loser of Game #1 (possible elimination game)
Game #6 - 7 p.m.: Winner of Game #1 vs. Winner of Game #2

Friday, May 10
TBA

Saturday, May 11
TBA

Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF
Audio/Video: at RMAC Tournament
Live Stats: at RMAC Tournament
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Baseball | #DixieBlazers | #RMACbase | #D2Baseball
 
FIRST PITCH: Dixie State (33-17/23-13 RMAC) makes a return trip to Grand Junction this week to play for a conference championship at the 2019 RMAC Baseball Tournament. The tournament, hosted by RMAC regular season champion No. 1/No. 4 Colorado Mesa, will be held May 8-11, at Suplizio Field (10,000).
    Dixie State, which was awarded the conference's No. 3 seed, will face No. 4 seed Colorado-Colorado Springs (28-22/20-16 RMAC) in the first game of the tourney on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Top-seed CMU (41-9/29-7 RMAC) will play No. 6 seed Colorado State-Pueblo (26-23/21-15 RMAC) in game two at 3 p.m., and No. 2 seed No. 29/No. 22 Colorado School of Mines (36-11/27-9 RMAC) will square off against No. 5 seed MSU Denver (27-22/19-17 RMAC) in the final game of day one at 7 p.m.
    The tourney will continue through Saturday, May 22, with the winner earning the RMAC's automatic bid to the NCAA South Central Regionals, which take place May 16-19 (site TBA).

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State closed the 2019 regular season on a sour note as the Trailblazers dropped three of four at RMAC champion CMU last weekend in Grand Junction. The Mavericks claimed the first two games of the series by 9-6 and 9-4 counts before DSU broke through with a 10-5 win in game three on Saturday, which snapped the Blazers' eight-game losing streak vs. CMU. However, Dixie State would come up just short of a series split as Colorado Mesa collected an 8-6 victory in the finale to clinch the series win.

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 237-123-1 (.658) overall record at DSU, and a 289-182-1 (.613) 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: Despite winning nine of its last 13 games over the last three-plus weeks, Dixie State did not receive any votes in either the NCBWA Top-25 and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper national polls this week. The Trailblazers did stay at No. 6 in this week's NCBWA South Central Regional rankings, and Dixie State climbed is No. 6 in the second official NCAA South Central Region poll released, which was released May 1. The final official NCAA regional rankings will be released this Wednesday.

HOME SWEET HOME: Dixie State closed its 2019 home slate by winning seven of its final eight games to clinch its 13-straight home winning record since becoming an NCAA Division II program in 2007. The Trailblazers have played to a 262-98 (.728) overall record in 360 games played inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era, including a 21-7 mark (.750) this season.
    Dixie State has won 20 or more games in eight of 13 seasons at home, 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 W% 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. The Trailblazers continued that trend in their RMAC debut as they played to a 13-3 home record (.812) in league games.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Despite going 4-8 over its last 12 road games, Dixie State has held its own away from home as the Trailblazers own a 146-130-1 overall road record (.529) through 12-plus years of D-II competition, which includes an 11-10 mark this season. DSU has posted 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 155-137-1 (.530) 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.  Heading into this weekend's series at CMU, Dixie State is 9-7 (.562) in road RMAC games.

JUST WIN BABY: Dixie State's home sweep of CCU (4/18-20) also clinched the program's 10th 30-plus win season in its NCAA era. The Trailblazers have reached the 30-win plateau 10 times in the last 11 seasons overall, and had won 30 or more game in nine-straight seasons (2009-17), but the streak was halted last year when the Blazers posted a 25-25 mark.
    In fact, DSU won 35 of more games in four of those previous nine 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.

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 on March 16. DSU is 418-238-1 (.637) all-time through 12-plus years of NCAA Division II competition (657 games).

FREE BASEBALL: Dixie State played in its first extra-inning game of the year in game three vs. Regis on April 19, which resulted in an 8-5 DSU loss. The Trailblazers played in four extra inning games last season and posted a 3-1 record, though DSU had not had to go extra frames since knocking off Hawai'i Pacific 5-4 in 11 innings back on March 24, 2018, which ended a streak of 53-straight games without an extra-inning affair.
    Dating back to the 2016 season, the Trailblazers have won five of their last seven extra inning games overall, and are 31-15 (.674) in 46 total extra-inning games in the program's four-year era.

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 back on March 8-10, 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 at NMHU, which included 15 doubles and six home runs. Dixie State also collected 18 XBH in its final home series vs. CCU with 11 doubles, two triples and five home runs.

TRAILBLAZERS PICK UP SEVEN RMAC POSTSEASON AWARDS: Dixie State landed six players on the 2019 All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Baseball Team and earned seven total honors, as announced on Tuesday by the conference office based on voting completed by the league's head coaches.
    Third baseman Tyson Fisher was voted as the conference's Freshman Position Player of the Year, while junior 1B/OF/DH Jake Engel was the lone Trailblazer listed on the league's first team. In addition, five for Trailblazers collected second team all-conference honors, including pitchers Jayden Murray and Brayden Bonner, infielders Bryce Feist and Tyler Hollow, and outfielder Lane Pritchard.  
    Fisher, who currently leads the club in extra-base hits (26), finished the regular season in the top-20 in almost every RMAC statistical category as he batted .380 (t-12th RMAC) with 14 doubles (t-14th RMAC), a team-high four triples (t-4th RMAC) and eight home runs (t-19th RMAC) in 45 starts. The freshman also drove in 40 runs (t-18th RMAC) with 48 runs scored (t-10th RMAC) and 11 stolen bases (t-9th RMAC). Earlier this season, Fisher became the first player in the program's NCAA era to hit for the cycle in the series finale at New Mexico Highlands on March 24, against which he pounded out a career-best five hits (5-for-5) to go with career-highs of five RBI and four runs scored.
    Engel started in 48 of 49 games played this season as batted .374 (15th RMAC) with a team-high 13 home runs (t-4th RMAC) and 47 RBI (7th RMAC). The junior also legged out seven doubles and three triples (t-8th RMAC) to go with 54 runs scored (5th RMAC). The junior hit safely in 38 of 49 games this season, including hits in 27 of 32 RMAC games. Engel also batted .372 against in RMAC play (45-for-121) with two triples, eight homers and 35 RBI, and was named RMAC Player of the Week on April 2.  
    Murray, who was also named RMAC Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 5, co-led the conference in wins as his finished the regular season 9-3 with a 4.14 ERA. The senior righthander became Dixie State's NCAA-era single-season strikeout leader last month in a home win over Colorado Christian (4/26) and wound up with 82 total strikeouts (5th RMAC) in 76.0 innings of work. Murray has struck out seven or more batters in five of his last nine starts, highlighted by a career-high 10 punchouts in 5.0 IP in his RMAC debut in game two at Adams State (3/9). He enters this weekend's RMAC tournament fifth in program history in career strikeouts (128), and is currently DSU's career leader (8.19) in K/9IP.   
    Bonner began the season as the Trailblazer closer before moving into a spot-starting role for the DSU pitching staff. The junior finished the regular season second in the conference with eight saves (t-8th on DSU season list) to go with a 3-1 overall record and 37 strikeouts in 33.1 IP.
    Feist enjoyed a great bounce-back senior season as he batted .303 in 44 games with 10 doubles, one homer, 22 RBI and 36 runs scored. He hit safely in 24 of 44 games played with nine multi-hit games, including a 4-for-7 day with a pair of doubles and two RBI in the series finale at Adams State (3/10), and collected a combined five hits in last Saturday's doubleheader split at Colorado Mesa.
    Hollow, who was a preseason NCBWA second team all-South Central Region selection, batted .355 as the Trailblazers everyday second baseman with team-highs of 15 doubles (t-11th RMAC) and 49 RBI (6th RMAC). The sophomore also belted three home runs with 34 runs scored and five stolen bases, while he hit safely in 37 of 49 games played with 18 multi-hit games, highlighted by a 4-for-4 day with a double, homer and two RBI in the series opener at Adams State (3/8).
    Pritchard has been a run-scoring machine in his debut season for the Trailblazers as he has crossed home plate 60 times overall (3rd RMAC), including 51 times over his last 40 games played, and needs just two more runs scored to break DSU's single-season record (61). The junior outfielder is batting at a .358 clip with seven home runs (t-24th RMAC), nine doubles, two triples and 28 RBI. Pritchard has also swiped 15 bases (6th RMAC), which is t-third on DSU's single-season steals list, and posted a .964 fielding percentage with a team-high four outfield assists.

IT'S UP THERE, IT'S OUT THERE, IT'S GONE!!: Dixie State finished the regular season with 54 home runs (#2 on single-season list), which more than doubled last season's home run total (24 in 50 games). DSU also hit 43 total HRs through 36 RMAC games overall, including five homers vs. CCU and three round-trippers last weekend at CMU.
     Pritchard has homered in five of his last 18 starts, including a lead-off home run on the first pitch thrown in the MSUD series (4/12) and his first two-homer game in the opener vs. Regis (4/18).
    Pritchard, who also homered in the series opener vs. CCU (4/26), has been part of two of DSU's three back-to-back HR instances this season, the last coming in G1 vs. Regis (4/18) when he homered one pitch after senior OF Kaid Urban belted his first DSU round-tripper in the fourth inning.
    Pritchard's first HR of the year came on the front end of a back-to-back with Engel in the finale at NMHU (7th inning; 3/24), which marked the second time this season that DSU achieved that feat. In the series finale vs. UCCS (3/18), junior Cade Spurlin and Engel led off the sixth with consecutive HRs, which was 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 in their RMAC debut in March. Eight different Trailblazers hit at least one HR in that 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 C Cade Spurlin (.393/6 HR/37 RBI) tied his career-high with five RBI in DSU's G2 come-from-behind win over Regis (4/19), which included a game-winning three-run double in the sixth ... Spurlin also drove in five runs in the series opener at MSUD (4/12) as he went 3-for-4 with a homer in the come-from-behind win ... four of Spurlin's five RBI came after DSU fell behind 8-4 after five complete, including a three-run HR in the sixth inning and a game-tying single in the eighth.
* - Spurlin, who had at least one hit in all four starts at CMU last weekend, leads the team in batting at .393 ... he has hit safely in 19 of his last 21 games and in 35 of his last 43 outings overall while batting .398 with 15 multi-hit games over that current stretch ... the junior hit at a .389 (42-for-108) clip in RMAC play this season (35 games) and has driven in 30 of his 37 RBI and hit four of his six HRs on the season against league opponents.
* - Senior INF Wyatt Branch (.389/10 RBI) made the most of his "Senior Weekend" as he batted a team-best .556 (5-for-9), with team series-highs of three doubles and six RBI, to go with four runs scored and a stolen base in the CCU series ... Branch hit safely and collected at least one RBI in each of his three starts, beginning with a 2-for-3 night with a pair of doubles, two RBI and three runs scored in the series opener (4/26) ... he then came back on Senior Day (4/28) with a 2-for-4 effort with another double and a career-high three RBI.
* - Fellow seniors Kaid Urban (.297/1 HR/24 RBI), Joe Raymond (.243/6 RBI) and Kade Cloward (.314/4 RBI) also enjoyed a memorable "Senior Weekend" against CCU ... Urban batted .500 in the series and collected at least on hit in all three starts, highlighted by a 3-for-3 effort in the opener (4/26), and by his game-tying two-run double in the seventh-inning of game two (4/27) ... Raymond legged out a double and drove in two runs in G3 vs. CCU (4/27), while "Clutch" Kade doubled home the eventual game-winning run later in the G3 win.
* - Urban batted .333 (4-for-12) in four starts at CMU last weekend with a double, triple, four RBI and three runs scored ... the senior also stole a base and drew two walks.
* - Sophomore reserve catcher Tanner Harper (.171/1 HR/6 RBI) connected for his first collegiate home run in game two at CMU last Friday, a three-run shot in the eighth inning that sailed well over the left field wall.
* - Junior OF Jake Brown (.290/3 HR/15 RBI) picked up a pair of base hits in the CCU series, both of which went for extra bases and drove in runs, including a solo HR in G2 (4/27) and an RBI-triple in the finale (4/28) ... speaking of triples, freshman INF Zach Thomas (.333) legged out a triple for his first collegiate hit in the CCU finale (4/28) and would later single to finish 2-for-2 on the day ... Thomas also picked up his first double of the year and a run scored in the opener at CMU last Thursday.
* - Junior 1B Braxton Ipson (.297/4 HR/28 RBI) capped Dixie State's three-run seventh-inning in G2 vs. CCU (4/27) with a walk-off single through the right side to complete the 7-6 come-from-behind win ... Ipson would strike again in the CCU series finale (4/28) with a mammoth three-run HR to center field as part of a five-run fourth inning ... Ipson hit .333 in the CMU series (4-for-12) with a double, RBI and four runs scored.  
* - Junior LHP Tevita Gerber (3-0/6.06 ERA/30 K) collected his second win in as many weekends and the third of the season after he fired 2.1 innings of scoreless relief in G2 vs. CCU (4/27) ... Gerber also tossed 5.0 innings of one-hit shutout relief with a DSU career-high six strikeouts to earn the decision in the opener vs. Regis (4/18).
* - Sophomore LHP Jack Gonzales (6-2, 5.82 ERA/46 K) picked up his first collegiate complete game victory in game three at CMU last Saturday, against which he struck out five and scattered five hits and five runs over seven innings of work.
* - DSU enters the week second in the RMAC in batting (.332), and leads the league in runs (428) and OB% (.439) ... DSU is also second in hits (534) and RBI (375) ... in fact, the Blazers are ranked in the league's top-six in virtually every major offensive statistical category.
* - DSU is also t-first in the RMAC in stolen bases (81-for-100), including an impressive 61-for-74 in 36 RMAC games (13-of-13 at ASU, 11-of-12 vs. Regis).
* - Meanwhile the Trailblazer pitching staff owns a 5.50 team ERA (#3 in RMAC) heading into this weekend's conference tournament ... DSU pitchers have held opposing hitters to a .277 average through 50 games this season overall and have combined for 356 strikeouts (#4 in RMAC) in 401.0 IP.

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: The winner of the 2019 RMAC Tournament will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA South Central Regionals, which will be played May 16-19 (site TBA).