Game Times (Mountain):
Friday - 5 p.m.
Saturday - 3 p.m.
Sunday - 2 p.m.
Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | SEATTLE U
Live Streaming: WAC DIGITAL NETWORK
Live Stats: GAME #1 | GAME #2 | GAME #3
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Baseball | #DixieBlazers | #WACbsb
 
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – RHP #29 Dillon Holliday (2-2, 4.85 ERA) vs. RHP #24 Nestor German (0-1, 6.75 ERA)
Saturday (G2) – RHP #18 Brett Porthan (4-0, 4.28 ERA) vs. LHP #26 Peter Chronowski (1-3, 2.08 ERA)
Sunday (G4) – RHP #40 Jimmy Borzone (0-1, 5.68 ERA) vs. RHP #13 Brady Liddle (1-2, 5.92 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: Dixie State (11-9/6-3 WAC) continues its eight-game road swing this weekend with a three-game WAC series at Seattle U (6-12/4-2 WAC) .  
    Friday's series opener will start at 4 p.m. (PT), followed the middle game on Saturday at 2 p.m. (PT), and the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. (PT), at Bannerwood Park in nearby Bellevue, Wash.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Dixie State is 4-0 all-time vs. Seattle U, with all four wins coming at home in WAC play last season at Bruce Hurst Field.
    In addition, this weekend's series in Bellevue will mark the first time the Trailblazers has visited the "The Evergreen State" since the 2015 season, when DSU played a series at Saint Martin's in Lacey during the program's NCAA Division II era. Dixie State also squared off against Central Washington back in the Ellensburg during the 2008 campaign.

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 289-169-1 (.630) overall record at DSU, and a 341-228-1 (.598) 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 collected their third WAC series win of the season after taking two of three from New Mexico State at Bruce Hurst Field last weekend. DSU posted consecutive 12-2 run-rule victories to open the set, but came up just short of a series sweep as NM State salvaged the final game by a 9-8 count.
    Dixie State then started its road swing this past Tuesday on a sour note with a 6-4 loss at CSUN in Northridge. Despite being held to just four hits by the Matadors, the Trailblazers had chances to tie or take the lead in both the eighth and ninth innings, but CSUN did just enough to escape with the midweek win.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Trailblazers have played to a 294-113 (.722) overall record in 407 games played inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era, including a 7-3 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 160-160-1 overall road record (.500) 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 4-6 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 174-171-1 (.504) all-time away from Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era.

ROCKIN' THE 'STACHE: Forget the "Fear The Beard" mantra, since Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer's arrival at Dixie State, his teams have created their own facial hair tradition - "Mustache March," and judging by past season results, it's been very effective.
    After the COVID-19 Pandemic all but wiped out the tradition after a 4-0 start to March 2020, and after a 2021 hiatus, "Mustache March" is back for 2022.  
    Thanks to the power of the mustache, Dixie State has played to a 113-49 (.697) overall record in the month of March over the past nine-plus seasons, including a 7-6 mark this March, along with a 14-5 record in 2017 and a 19-2 record in March of 2014.
    
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 468-284-1 (.622) all-time through 15-plus years of NCAA competition (753 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 four times in its last 12 games, including in the fifth inning of last Saturday's home win vs. NM State. DSU sent 10 batters to the plate and came away with five runs, this after they sent nine hitters to the dish in the second inning of that game and scored four runs. DSU also sent nine men to the plate in the sixth inning of Sunday's finale vs. the Aggies and tallied six runs to erase a 6-0 deficit.
    DSU posted their first road instance a week earlier in its win at Sacramento State (3/12), when 10 Trailblazers went 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 20 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 (.351/3 HR/15 RBI) has hit better than .300 in five of DSU's first six series this season, including a .500 clip (6-for-12) in the NM State series, which included a 4-for-5 day with two doubles and his second career grand slam in G2 last Saturday. He wound up driving in seven runs in the series with four runs scored.
    Hollow, who is batting .457 against WAC pitching, also hit an even .500 (5-for-10) vs. UVU (3/4-6), and .385 in the Sacramento State road series, where he went 5-for-13 with three doubles and three RBI.
    He opened the year with a .364 clip in three starts at Arizona State (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).
    Hollow has also done it on the defensive side, having thrown out a WAC-high 11 of 25 potential base stealers, including three vs. UVU, and four in the North Dakota State series (2/25-27). In fact, Hollow, who has 19 assists in 17 starts behind the plate 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 .500 (5-for-10) with three walks and four runs scored in the NM State series ... Taylor also clubbed his third homer of the year, a three-run blast over the batter's eye in straight away center field that capped DSU's six-run sixth inning in Sunday's finale vs. the Aggies.   
* - 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 (2/25-27).
* - Taylor is currently third on the club in average (.338), and leads the team in hits (27) and RBI (20), along with co-team highs of six doubles and three homers, and is second in runs scored (16), 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 is fifth on the club with a .321 average with 13 RBI, 12 runs scored and a co-team high four SBs in 20 games ... Ivancich's GS-HR in G2 vs. UVU was his third homer as a Trailblazer.
* - 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.
* - Leavitt enjoyed a solid series vs. NMSU, batting .500 (4-for-8) with three walks, three RBI and a team-high five runs scored in three starts ... Leavitt also went 1-for-2 with two more walks and two runs scored last Tuesday at CSUN.
* - Senior 2B Tyler Hollow (169) enters this weekend's set in eighth place on DSU's career hits list after he collected two hits in the CSUN loss on Tuesday afternoon ... three 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.
* - Freshman SS Ethan He collected his first collegiate hit and RBI with a run-scoring double in his Blazer debut in DSU's road win at Nevada (3/16) ... He also picked up another RBI-double in the eighth inning of Sunday's loss to NM State.     
* - Junior RF Tyson Fisher had a night in DSU's G2 win at Sacramento State (3/12) 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 (3/15)... 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).
* - Rodriguez enters this weekend's series at Seattle U as one of DSU's hottest hitters ... the sophomore batted .625 (5-for-8) in two starts vs. NM State with a double and three RBI, which included a career high four hits in Sunday's finale ... C-Rod also legged out his third career triple at CSUN last Tuesday, which came with the bases loaded in the eighth inning.   
* - Sophomore C/OF Parker Schmidt had himself a series vs. NM State, batting .357 (5-for-14) with a pair of doubles, four RBI and four runs scored ... he also threw out a potential base stealer in his start behind the plate in Sunday's finale.
* - Sophomore RHP Brett Porthan became the first Trailblazer since 2017 to open the season 4-0 after he earned the decision in the G2 win vs. NM State last Saturday ... Porthan struck out five and scattered two runs and eight hits over five innings complete.
* - Former DSU hurler Dylan File opened the 2017 season 5-0, this after he began the 2016 campaign with a 4-0 start ... In addition, former DSU pitcher Tyson Bailey managed to start the 2009 season at 6-0, while former Blazer righthander Mason Hilty set the school's NCAA era record with a 9-0 start in 2016.
* - Porthan leads the staff with 23 strikeouts in 22.1 IP through his first five starts.
* - Sophomore RHP Dillon Holliday returned to form in the series opener vs. NM State, surrendering only one earned run (2R total) and seven hits over seven innings to earn his second win of the year.
* - After a rocky first inning, Holliday limited the Aggies to just five hits over his next six innings of work ... the sophomore righthander struck out three Aggie hitters from the first inning on, while the Blazer defense turned three double plays behind him in the first, third and sixth frames.
* - In fact, Dixie State's defense has turned a WAC-leading 20 double plays through 20 games this season, seven of which came in the NM State series.
* - DSU's 20 double plays unofficially ranks the Trailblazers t-fifth nationally, however DSU is not eligible to be listed in the NCAA rankings during its four-year transition to Division I status.
* - Freshman lefthander Justin Woodbury recorded a rare four-strikeout frame in the eighth inning of last Friday's win vs. NM State ... Woodbury fanned all four hitters he faced in the stanza, this after his second strikeout victim reached base on a wild pitch after swinging at strike three.
* - Though he struggled in his first collegiate start in at Nevada on March 15, 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 (3/13), striking out two in two innings of one-hit, one-run relief.  
* - Junior RHP Jake Dahle earned his first win as a Trailblazer in the win at Nevada (3/16) ... 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 (3/16) ... 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' 47 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 SEATTLE U "REDHAWKS": Seattle U enters the weekend with a 6-12 record, though the Redhawks have played to a 4-4 mark over the last two weeks, which includes WAC series wins over both NM State on the road, and last weekend vs. Sacramento State at home.
    Sophomore infielder Derek Gellos is one of two Redhawk hitters batting over .300 with a .333 clip with one homer and eight RBI over 18 games, while junior utility player Shane Jamison leads the club in HR (4) and RBI (15) to go with a .278 average.
    Projected game two starter, LHP Peter Chronowski, owns a 1-3 overall record, though he boasts a 2.08 ERA and has struck out 24 in 26.0 IP.     
    As a team, Seattle U is batting .263 and averaging 5.0 runs a game, while the Redhawk pitching staff owns a 6.99 ERA and has struck out 145 in 157.0 IP.  

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State will close out its road swing next weekend with a four-game series at Cal Poly on April 1-3.