Dixie State saw a late-inning rally come up just short as the Trailblazers dropped the final game of their three-game weekend series at USC by a 6-5 count on Sunday afternoon at Dedeaux Field.
The Trailblazers (9-20) used a little A-B-C baseball to draw first blood and take their first lead of the series.
Shane Taylor rapped a sharp opposite field single to lead off the game, was bunted to second, took third on a wild pitch and scored the game's first run on a passed ball.
USC (15-11) answered that run with one of its own in the home half of the first with a Ben Ramirez two-out home run.
Senior lefthander
Tevita Gerber (ND) was effective in the early going, striking out three while limiting the Trojan offense to five hits over his first four innings of work.
The score remained tied until the DSU fifth when Taylor doubled home a run to put the Blazers back on top at 2-1.
Tanner Argyle, who made a great play defensively to save a run in USC third, reached on a two-out single, stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on the Taylor hit.
The Trojans got that run back on a sacrifice fly and threatened to take the lead with runners on the corners and two outs, which spelled the end of the day for Gerber. However junior southpaw
Jack Gonzales came out and struck out USC pinch hitter Bart West on five pitches to end the threat.
USC would break the game open in the home sixth with four runs, with the big blow coming on a two-out, two-run Jamal O'Guinn homer, which staked the Trojans to a 6-2 advantage.
Dixie State came back with a run in the eighth, and started the ninth with two batters being hit by a pitch, which brought the tying run to the plate with no outs. Argyle then stepped up and ripped a single through the left side of the infield to plate one run to make it a 6-4 game.
With runners on second and third and no outs, USC reliever Ethan Hoopengarner uncorked a pitch to the backstop, but Trojan catcher Tyler Lozano played the carom perfectly and fired the ball back to his pitcher, who tagged out
Mathew Ivancich at the plate for the first out of the inning.
Taylor followed with a fly out that plated Argyle to pull DSU to within 6-5.
Tanner Harper would get plunked with two outs to bring up
Kaden Hollow with a chance at the very least to to extend the inning, but Trojan closer Garrett Clarke (S, 1) got Hollow to fly out to center field to end the game.
Dixie State was held to just six hits on the afternoon, with Taylor and Argyle collecting two hits apiece.
Dixie State begins the second half of its NCAA D-I debut season by playing 16 of its final 27 games at Bruce Hurst Field, starting with a four-game WAC series vs. former PacWest rival California Baptist this upcoming Friday-through-Sunday, April 16-18.
