Game Times (Mountain):
Friday - 6:05 p.m.
Saturday - 2:05 p.m.
Sunday - 12:05 p.m.
Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | NM STATE
Live Streaming: WAC DIGITAL NETWORK
Live Stats: vs. NMSU
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Baseball | #DixieBlazers | #WACbsb
 
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – RHP #29 Dillon Holliday (1-2, 6.16 ERA) vs. LHP #7 Sammy Natera (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Saturday (G2) – RHP #18 Brett Porthan (3-0, 4.43) vs. RHP #32 Pablo Cortes (1-0, 2.81 ERA)
Sunday (G4) – RHP #40 Jimmy Borzone (0-1, 3.94 ERA) vs. RHP #18 Ian Mejia (3-0, 2.00 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: Dixie State (9-7/4-2 WAC) returns home for a three-game WAC series against New Mexico State (9-6/1-2 WAC) this Friday-through-Sunday at Bruce Hurst Field.
    Friday night's series opener will start at 6:05 p.m., followed the middle game on Saturday at 2:05 p.m., and the series finale on Sunday at 12:05 p.m.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Dixie State is 1-3 all-time vs. New Mexico State, with all four meetings coming last season in a WAC road series in Las Cruces. The Aggies claimed the first three games of set, while the Trailblazers managed to pick up their first-ever NCAA Division I victory in the series finale by a 19-13 count (3/14/21) to avoid the road sweep.

DIXIE STATE ON THE WEB: All Dixie State home games, along with all WAC away games, this season will be streamed live online on the WAC Digital Network (wacdigitalnetwork.com). The WDN is also available on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and Roku TV, while the WDN app is available for iOS in the Apple Store and Android on Google Play.

COACHING STAFF: Two-time Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year Chris Pfatenhauer is his 10th season as head coach of the Dixie State Baseball program. During his tenure in the Trailblazer dugout, Pfatenhauer 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 250th victory as DSU skipper in the series finale vs. Concordia-Portland (10-4; 2/23/2020), owns a 287-167-1 (.632) overall record at DSU, and a 339-226-1 (.600) career mark.
    Joining Pfatenhauer (UNLV, 2000) in the Trailblazer dugout this season is third-year pitching coach Zach Wilkins (Nevada, 2016), along with eighth-year assistant coaches Bobby Rinard (Arizona, 2014) and Matt Hill (Dixie State 2015).

LAST TIME OUT: The Trailblazers wrapped up their five-game road trip by splitting two games at Nevada earlier this week. After dropping a 7-4 decision in Tuesday's opener, DSU rallied for a 7-5 triumph in Wednesday' finale to close the trip with a 3-2 record.

TRAILBLAZERS VOTED FIFTH IN WAC PRESEASON DIVISION POLL: Dixie State was picked to finish fifth in the newly formed WAC West Division as the conference announced its 2022 baseball preseason polls back on February 9.
    With the addition of the four new Texas schools to the WAC, the 13-team conference has split into two divisions. Defending WAC champion Grand Canyon topped the West Division poll with five first place votes and 34 total points, while Sacramento State collected one first place nod and 30 points to finish second.
    California Baptist also received one first place vote and tallied 27 points to finish third in the West poll, followed by New Mexico State (20 pts) in fourth, DSU (19 pts) in fifth, Utah Valley (10 pts) in sixth and Seattle U (7 pts) in seventh.
    In the Southwest Division, which features all Texas schools, WAC newcomer Abilene Christian picked up five first place nods and 25 points to claim the top spot in that poll. Meanwhile, UTRGV (1 FPV, 19 pts) and league newcomer Sam Houston (19 pts) tied for second, followed by new WAC members Lamar (11 pts) and Stephen F. Austin (9 pts) in fourth and fifth place, respectively, and Tarleton State (7 pts) wound up in sixth.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Trailblazers have played to a 292-112 (.722) overall record in 404 games played inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era, including a 5-2 start this season.
    DSU began the 2022 season with the fourth-longest home winning streak in all of Division I, thanks in part to winning 12-straight at Bruce Hurst Field to finish the 2021 campaign with a 17-9 home mark.
    That streak reached 14-straight after the Blazers took the first two games in their 3-1 series win over North Dakota State. However the Bison snapped the streak with their lone win of the series (6-2) in game three, which also happed to be DSU's 400th NCAA game in its home park.
    Dixie State has posted a winning home record in all 15 seasons since becoming an NCAA program in 2007. DSU also went 8-3 (.727) in the COVID-19 Pandemic shortened 2020 season, and closed its 2019 home slate by winning seven of its final eight games to en route to a 21-7 (.750) home mark.
    DSU has won 20 or more home games in eight of 15 seasons overall, 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 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% in Pfatenhauer's tenure.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Dixie State has held its own away from home as the Trailblazers own a 160-159-1 overall road record (.501) in its four-year era. That road mark took a little bit of a hit in the program's D-I debut season last year (7-23), though the Blazers are off to a solid 4-5 start this season.
    DSU has posted a winning road record in eight of their last 11 seasons overall, highlighted by a 16-7-1 road mark in 2017. The 16 road wins were the most in program history since beginning 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 (14-11 in 25 games), Dixie State is 174-170-1 (.505) all-time away from Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era.
    
JUST WIN BABY: Dixie State's 24-32 overall record in its NCAA D-I debut season last year led to another first for the Trailblazer program since it joined the NCAA ranks in 2007 - that being that Dixie State saw a final season record finish below the .500 plateau.
    That said, the Trailblazers did close out the 2021 season by winning 13 of their final 19 games, highlighted by an 11-9 upset win at then-No. 6 and PAC-12 champion Arizona in the penultimate game of the season (5/28/21).
    Prior to last season, Dixie State had played to a winning record in 13 of its previous 14 seasons, with the lone exception coming in 2018, when the Trailblazers posted an even 25-25 mark. In fact, DSU has reached the 30-win plateau 10 times in 15 seasons of NCAA play overall, which included nine-straight seasons from 2009 to 2017.
    DSU has won 35 of more games in a season four times 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 (6-1) on March 16, 2019. DSU is currently 466-282-1 (.623) all-time through 15-plus years of NCAA competition (749 games).

BEST IN STATE?: Dixie State finished the in-state portion of its 2021 D-I debut schedule with a 6-2 mark against the other three Utah baseball schools. Along with their four-game WAC sweep of Utah Valley, the Trailblazers split home-and-home single game match-ups against both PAC-12 member Utah and West Coast Conference member BYU.
    DSU improved to 8-3 vs. in-state opponents thanks to its series win over UVU earlier this month.

ROUND AND ROUND: Dixie State has batted around three times in its last eight games, including in the eighth inning of last Saturday's win at Sacramento State.
    The Trailblazers sent 10 batters to the plate and came away with four runs. DSU also sent nine hitters to the dish in the first inning of that game and scored five times.
    The Blazers batted around twice in their WAC-opening series vs. Utah Valley (3/4-6), doing so in each of the first two games. The Trailblazers sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs in the third inning of game one, this after UVU did the exact same thing in the top half of the frame.
    Then in game two, the Blazers made a little history when, for the first time in the program's NCAA era, they sent 11-straight batters to the plate before the first out was recorded, and wound up scoring eight runs in the frame, including a grand slam off the bat of senior SS Mathew Ivancich.
    However that was not the first time DSU had 10 consecutive batters reach base safely in a game. The last instance also came at home in the 2014 season vs. Cal State LA (4/18/14), when Dixie State had 10-straight hitters reach with one out in a 10-run fourth inning of a 17-9 DSU win. DSU wound up sending 14 batters to the plate in that frame, which also featured a grand slam (Kris Kaplan).
    
HOLLOW ON PRESEASON WATCH LISTS: Sophomore catcher Kaden Hollow earned some early preseason attention leading into the 2022 campaign, and though we are only 16 games into the season, he has shown he is worthy of the hype.
    The sophomore backstop was voted to the WAC preseason all-conference team and was listed as one of the top-50 catchers in the nation by D1Baseball.com. In addition, he is on the 2022 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year watch list.
    Hollow (.339/2 HR/8 RBI) has hit better than .300 in four of DSU's first five series this season, including a .500 clip (5-for-10) vs. UVU, and .385 last weekend at Sacramento State, where he went 5-for-13 with three doubles and three RBI.
    He also batted .364 in the Arizona State series (2/18-20; 4-for-11) with three runs scored, highlighted by a 3-for-3 day with DSU's first (2R) homer of the season and two RBI in the series finale (2/20).
    He has also done it on the defensive side, having thrown out a WAC-high 10 of 22 potential base stealers, including three vs. UVU, and four in the North Dakota State series (2/25-27). In fact, Hollow, who has 18 assists in 16 games overall this season, threw out five total base runners in the NDSU series as he erased a runner trying to advance on a wild pitch.  
    Hollow earned first team all-WAC and 2021 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Freshman All-America honors after batting .322 with 15 doubles, nine homers and 41 RBI. He finished the year ranked in the WAC's top-10 in four offensive categories, including slugging percentage (.559), home runs, doubles, and RBI.

TRAILBLAZER QUICK HITS:
* - Sophomore 3B Shane Taylor continued his early season tear as he hit .385 (5-for-13) with three XBH, including a double and two home runs, to go with six RBI and five runs scored in the UVU series.
* - Taylor opened the year batting .455 (5-for-11) with a double and three RBI in the Arizona State series, and followed that up with a .467 clip (7-for-15) in four starts vs. NDSU.
* - Taylor is currently third on the club in average (.338), and leads the team in hits (22), XBH (8) with a team-high six doubles, and RBI (17), and is second in runs scored (12), all out of the lead-off spot in the order.
* - In fact, the entire left side of the DSU infield has been arguably one of the best in the country offensively in the early going as Ivancich leads the club with a .362 average with 11 RBI, 11 runs scored and a team-best four SBs in 16 games ... Ivancich's GS-HR in G2 vs. UVU was his third homer as a Trailblazer ... the senior shortstop enjoyed a breakout series vs. NDSU (2/25-27), batting a team-best .583 (7-for-12) with two doubles, two RBI and team-high five runs scored in four starts.
* - Though it took him 288 career at-bats (383 PA) to do it, senior CF Jagun Leavitt finally hit his first collegiate home run, doing so in his first plate appearance vs. NDSU (2/25) ... After a lead-off walk, Leavitt launched a 3-2 pitch over the RF wall to stake DSU to a 2-0 third-inning lead ... Leavitt has also added a triple to his early-season stat line as he batted .444 in the UVU series with his three-bagger and two RBI.
* - Senior 2B Tyler Hollow (165) enters this weekend in eighth place on DSU's career hits list after he collected two hits in the Sac State series, and one more safety six plate appearances in the two games at Nevada ... two weeks ago vs. UVU, Hollow clubbed his 33rd career double (t-6th in DSU history), and batted an even .400 overall with two RBI in the three game set.
* - Hollow saw his streak of starting in 100-straight games end in last Wednesday's win at Nevada ... however Hollow did come in as a PH in the sixth inning and drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly.
* - Freshman SS Ethan He scored on that Hollow fly out, which capped a highlight filled sixth inning for the freshman ... He, who played and started in his first collegiate game last Wednesday, collected his first hit and RBI with a run-scoring double in DSU's three-run rally.    
* - Junior RF Tyson Fisher had a night in DSU's G2 win at Sacramento State last Saturday as he homered twice and drove in a career high six runs in the win ... Fisher clubbed a two-run HR in the second, and struck again with a three-run blast in the sixth.
* - Fisher's two-homer night was the first of his collegiate career, and was the 29th individual two-homer game in the program's NCAA era ... Fisher also became the 13th different player in the four-year era to drive in at least six runs.
* - Fisher went on to hit his 24th-career homer in G1 at Nevada last Tuesday ... The junior's dinger moved into a tie for fourth place on DSU's career home run list with another Tyson - Tyson Littlewood (2009-12), who hit 24 over his four-year career ... Fisher now stands nine homers shy of breaking DSU's career HR record, which was set last year by former teammate Jake Engel (32 HR; 2017-21).
* - Sophomore OF/1B Chase Rodriguez was the 12th Blazer to add his name to the single-game RBI list after his banner day in the series opener vs. Utah Valley (3/4), against which he homered and drove in a career-high six runs in the victory ... Rodriguez did his damage with a two-run double, a 3R HR and an RBI ground out.
* - Rodriguez wound up with seven RBI in the series and batted .364 in three starts (4-for-11).  
* - Sophomore RHP Brett Porthan ran his record to 3-0 on the year after he fanned four and scattered seven hits and three earned runs (5R total) over 5.0 IP in G2 at Sacramento State last Saturday.
* - Porthan put together another dominant start in G2 vs. UVU (3/5), tying a career high with seven strikeouts while allowing one run and four hits over six innings to earn his second win of the season ... Porthan also struck out seven and gave up two runs and three hits in 6.0 IP in his G2 win over NDSU (2/26) ... Porthan leads the staff with 23 strikeouts in 22.1 IP through four starts.
* - Though he struggled in his first collegiate start in Tuesday's opener at Nevada, freshman RHP Jacob Taggart has proven that the college stage is not too big for him ... Taggart (18 K in 12.1 IP) has already turned in three dominant performances this season, two of which have come on the road against two PAC-12 heavyweights ... Taggart made his collegiate debut in the series finale at Arizona State (2/20), against which he struck out three in 1.1 innings of spotless relief.
* - Taggart followed that up with a career-high nine strikeouts over five shutout innings of one-hit relief at Arizona (3/1) ... he struck out the side in the third and sixth innings, and induced a big double-play ball in the Wildcat fifth ... Taggart made his fourth appearance of the year in series finale vs. UVU (3/6), against which he struck five in 2.1 innings of one hit relief.
* - Sophomore RHP Ryan Hardman has emerged as the Trailblazers' stopper out of the bullpen ... he collected his third career save in the series opener vs. UVU (3/5) when he came on with one out in the eighth to get DSU out of a bases-loaded jam ... Hardman finished with three strikeouts in 1.2 IP to close out the game.  
* - That save marked the second-straight win Hardman had secured, and in the process, rescued the Blazers out bases-loaded situation ... the sophomore pulled the Houdini act in the NDSU series finale (2/27) when he came on in the seventh with the bases loaded and one out, and proceeded to record the final two outs of the frame in short order ... Hardman went on to retire six of the final seven Bison hitters he faced to close out the series win.
* - Hardman picked up the Blazers' first win of the 2022 campaign after he scattered one run and six hits over 4.2 innings of relief with four strikeouts in G2 at Arizona State (2/19) ... Hardman also collected the win in the finale at Sac State last Sunday, striking out two in two innings of one-hit, one-run relief.  
* - Senior RHP Jimmy Borzone tied a season high with six strikeouts in his first start of the year in the UVU series finale (3/6) ... Borzone, who moved into fifth place on DSU's career strikeouts list (139) in last Sunday's start at Sac State (5.1 IP/7 H/2 R/5 K), also fanned six strikeouts in 4.1 innings out of the bullpen in G3 vs. NDSU (2/26).
* - Junior RHP Jake Dahle earned his first win as a Trailblazer in last Wednesday's win at Nevada ... Dahle limited the high-powered Wolf Pack offense to just two runs and four hits over five innings complete with a strikeout.
* - Junior RHP Zach Thomas did it with his bat, and his arm, to help lead Dixie State to the win at Nevada on Wednesday afternoon ... Thomas started the Blazers' sixth-inning rally with a pinch-hit, lead-off triple - his first collegiate XBH, and scored the team's first run two batters later on the He double ... Thomas later doubled and scored another run in the seventh, then went out to the mound with a runner on in the home eighth and recorded three outs on four pitches to halt a potential Wolf Pack rally.    

FREE BASEBALL: After not playing an extra inning game in two full seasons in 2019 and 2020, Dixie State has played in seven extra inning affairs since its move to Division I, all of which have come over the Blazers' 43 games, including two already this season.  
    The Trailblazers is currently 3-4 in extra inning games as a D-I, which includes their 7-6 win in 10 innings in game two at Arizona State (2/19), along with the 2-1 loss in 10 innings at Arizona (3/1).
    DSU saw its 52-straight game streak of not playing an extra inning game come to an end last season in the series opener at Tarleton State (L, 9-10, 4/1/21), and the Blazers finished the 2021 campaign with a 2-3 mark in extra innings.
    The Trailblazers are 34-19 (.641) in 53 total extra-inning games in the program's four-year era, 17-9 in 10-inning games, and the program has won eight of its last 14 extra inning games overall.

ABOUT THE NEW MEXICO STATE "AGGIES": NM State comes to St. George having lost four of its last five after an 8-2 start to the 2022 campaign. The Aggies began WAC play by dropping two of three at home to Seattle U last weekend, while they lost two non-conference road games at Nebraska earlier this in Lincoln.
    NMSU's projected starting rotation of Sammy Natera (G1/LHP; 1-0/3.00 ERA/30 K), Pablo Cortes (G2/RHP; 1-0/2.81 ERA/19 K) and Ian Mejia (G3/RHP; 3-0/2.00 ERA/24 K) are a combined 5-0 on the season with a minute 2.48 ERA in 11 appearances overall. Sophomore catcher Logan Gallina is one of eight Aggie line-up regulars batting over .300, boasting a .382 average with team highs of five home runs and 17 RBI.
    As a team, NM State is batting .308 and averaging 7.9 runs a game, while the Aggie pitching staff owns a 3.75 ERA and has struck out 163 in 136.2 IP.  

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State will play eight-straight road games, beginning with a date at CSUN this Tuesday, March 22, in Northridge, Calif.