Dixie State baseball succumbed to a late Washington State rally as the Trailblazers dropped their 2021 season and NCAA Division I debut on Thursday night inside Bruce Hurst Field by a 6-3 count.

After the two teams traded scoreless opening frames, the Blazers (0-1) broke through for their first D-I hit and run in the home third to take a 1-0 lead after three innings complete. Lane Pritchard and Tyler Hollow both walked ahead of Tanner Harper, who loaded the bases with an infield single for the game's first hit. Kaden Hollow followed with an RBI-groundout to spot DSU with the early cushion.

Dixie State padded its lead with a pair of two-out runs in the fifth to extend to a 3-0 advantage. Tyler Hollow doubled to start the rally and came around to score on a Harper single to left field. Harper advanced to second thanks to a Cougar error on the throw home and later plated DSU's third run thanks to another Cougar error one batter later.

The run support bolstered a strong opening start from junior righthander Jimmy Borzone (ND), who tossed 5.2 innings of three-hit baseball with five strikeouts, as Dixie State held Washington State (4-1) off the scoreboard through six innings.

The Cougars managed to solve the Blazer pitching with three runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to bolt to erase the deficit and take a three-run lead of their own.

Dixie State, which was held to just two total baserunners over the sixth-through-eighth innings, made one last charge in the ninth thanks to a walk and a hit batter that brought the tying run to the plate with one out. However WSU reliever Brody Barnum (S, 1) came on and retired both batters he faced to preserve the Cougar win.

Though the result was not what DSU head coach Chris Pfatenhauer wanted for his team, just the fact that there was baseball played again at Bruce Hurst Field felt like a victory.

"Obviously getting someone else in the other dugout was huge [354 days since Dixie State's last game]," said Coach Pfatenhauer. "We've done a good job with our [team COVID protocols] and we've been able to practice and scrimmage a lot, but just getting to compete against somebody else was fantastic.

"The fact that [DSU's first D-I game] was against a PAC-12 school, at home, you could not have drawn that up any better," Pfatenhauer added. "I think the biggest takeaway is that our guys should know that they belong [in Division I] and they belong at this level. We are excited to keep it rolling and compete."

Dixie State was held to just three hits on the night, two of which came off the bat of Harper, though the Trailblazers did draw nine walks. The night also saw the end of Jake Engel's school record 21-game hitting streak as the senior outfielder went 0-for-4 with an HBP and a run scored.

Washington State rapped out eight hits, including three hits apiece for Kyle Manzardo and Kodie Kolden.

The two teams will play game two of their four game series on Friday afternoon beginning at 3:05 p.m.