Senior lefthander Tevita Gerber struck out a career-high seven in seven-plus solid innings as No. 24 Dixie State completed a lopsided RMAC season-opening series sweep of Adams State with an 8-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Bruce Hurst Field.

The Trailblazers (15-3/4-0 RMAC), who extended their current winning streak to five-straight and won eight games during their 11-game homestand overall, broke an NCAA-era program record by outscoring the Grizzlies (5-13/0-4 RMAC) by a 62-6 count over the four-game series. The plus-56 run differential eclipsed the previous record established against an NCAA opponent of plus-46, which was set during the 2009 season against Academy of Art (52-6; 3/16-17/09) in 2009.

DSU owned a 2-0 lead through the first five innings of play, scoring both runs without benefit of a hit. The Blazers got on the board in the home first when Braden Stutzman scampered home on the back end of a double steal attempt and crossed home plate before Tyson Fisher was tagged out in a rundown.

Dixie State then manufactured its second run in the fourth, which got started when Fisher was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame. The sophomore was then bunted to second and advanced to third on a wild pitch ahead of a Tanner Harper run-scoring foul out down the left field line.

Meanwhile, Gerber was dealing as he retired the first 11 Grizzly hitters he faced (with one DSU error), including four on strikes, before Cedric Reynaud reached on a one-out double in the ASU fourth. Nico Nintze followed with a single which put runners on the corners, but the southpaw got out of the jam two pitches later when he induced an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Adams State pushed across its lone run in the top of the sixth when a lead-off error led to an unearned run, which cut the Blazer lead in half at 2-1.

However Dixie State got that run back and more in the home half of the frame when Harper singled home two runs to stake his side to a 4-1 advantage. The Trailblazers would take on another run in the seventh and three more in the eighth to put the game, and the series sweep, on ice.

Harper finished the day with two hits to go with his three RBI, while Stutzman tallied two hits with two runs scored, as DSU outhit the Grizzlies by an 8-7 count.

In addition, Jake Engel extended his DSU program-record hit streak to 21-straight games with an eighth-inning RBI single. Engel became the first player in the program's NCAA era to hit in 20-straight games with two hits in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader. The senior, who hit safely in his last five games last year and in all 16 games he has played in this season, bested the previous record of 19-straight games set by former DSU slugger Kevin Kline (2/16-3/14/14) during the 2014 season.

Gerber (W, 4-0) pitched into the eighth, allowing just the one unearned run and five hits in 7.1 innings of work en route to his team-leading fourth win of the season. DSU's defense turned two double plays on the day overall, including another 6-4-3 twin killing that ended a Grizzlies' scoring threat in the eighth frame.

After spending more than a month at home, Dixie State will open the road portion of its final season of RMAC play with a four-game weekend series at UCCS next weekend in Colorado Springs.