No. 24 Dixie State opened its final season of RMAC play on a successful note as the Trailblazers powered past Adams State, 9-1, in the first game of a four-game weekend series Friday afternoon at Bruce Hurst Field.

DSU (12-3/1-0 RMAC) struck for a pair of first inning runs and plated two more in the third to bolt out to a 4-0 lead. Cade Spurlin cashed in a Lane Pritchard lead-off double with an RBI-groundout, while the Blazers took advantage of a two-out Grizzlies (5-10/0-1 RMAC) error to push across another run in the frame.

Then in the Dixie State third, Jake Brown singled home Tanner Harper with two outs, but was later thrown out in a rundown trying to steal second, but not before Tyson Fisher crossed home plate on the back end of the play.

ASU got one of those runs back in its half of the fourth, but DSU tacked on five more runs from the sixth inning on to put the game away.

The Trailblazers finished with 13 hits in the series opener, including two hits apiece for Brown, Braden Stutzman and Jake Engel. Engel finished with two RBI, highlighted by his team-leading fifth home run of the year, a towering solo shot to right center that led off the DSU seventh. Drake Benner also went yard with a pinch-hit solo homer in the Blazer eighth.

Meanwhile, five Trailblazer hurlers combined to limit the Grizzlies to just five hits on day. Junior righthander Justin Dunham (ND) pitched into the fifth and scattered one run and three hits with a pair of strikeouts, while freshman southpaw Benton Hart (W, 3-0) pitched two spotless innings of relief to earn the decision. In all, the DSU bullpen pitched 5.0 innings of two-hit baseball with four strikeouts.

The two teams will continue the series with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12 noon at Bruce Hurst Field.