Game Times (Mountain):
Thursday - 4:05 p.m.
Friday - 4:05 p.m.
Saturday - 12:05 p.m.
Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | UVU - PDF
Live Streaming:  GAME #1 - ESPN+ | GAME #2 - ESPN+ | GAME #3 - ESPN+
Live Stats: GAME #1 | GAME #2 | GAME #3
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Baseball | #DixieBlazers | #WACbsb
 
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Thursday (G1) – RHP #30 Blake Milne (1-2, 4.61 ERA) vs. RHP #26 Mason Gray (0-2, 6.28 ERA)
Friday (G2) – RHP #18 Brett Porthan (5-2, 5.61 ERA) vs. RHP #19 Devin Smith (0-2, 6.00 ERA)
Saturday (G3) – RHP #21 Ryan Hardman (2-1, 4.76 ERA) vs. RHP #14 Cooper Rust (2-4, 4.22 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: Dixie State (14-18/8-7 WAC) returns to WAC play this weekend with a three-game series at in-state rival Utah Valley. Thursday's series opener and Friday's middle game will begin at 4:05 p.m., while Saturday's finale will start at 12:05 p.m., at UCCU Ballpark (7,500) in Orem.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Dixie State is 10-5 all-time vs. Utah Valley in NCAA competition, which includes a 2-1 series win in St. George last month (3/4-6) and a four-game sweep of the Wolverines last season (4/30-5/2) at Bruce Hurst Field.
    DSU is 8-1 all-time vs. the Wolverines at home, and 2-4 in six meetings in Orem in its four-year era, though this will be the first meeting between the two teams in Orem since the 2008 season, when UVU took two of three from DSU (4/24-26/08).
    Both Dixie State and UVU were members of the Scenic West Athletic Conference during the junior college years, and the two sides played annually through 2003 before UVU began its D-I transition ahead of the 2004 season.

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 292-178-1 (.621) overall record at DSU, and a 344-237-1 (.592) 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: Dixie State suffered its fourth-straight loss and saw its April record fall to 1-8 overall after the Trailblazers dropped a heart-breaking 3-2 non-conference decision at UNLV last Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
    The Blazers led 2-0 after five innings and went into the home eighth nursing a slim 2-1 advantage. However the Rebels rallied for two runs in the frame and kept DSU off the scoreboard in the ninth to escape with the one-run win.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Trailblazers have played to a 295-116 (.717) overall record in 411 games played inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era, which includes an 8-6 start this season following the GCU series loss.
    The series sweep vs. GCU marked just the second time in the program's NCAA era that DSU was swept in a three-game set at Bruce Hurst Field, with the first instance coming in its NCAA debut series vs. Biola in 2007 (2/1-3/07). DSU has also been swept in a home four-game series twice, both times coming in season-opening series vs. Cal Poly Pomona in 2015 (2/6-8), and last season vs. Washington State (2/25-28/21).
    DSU began the 2022 campaign 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 boast a 162-166-1 overall road record (.494) in its four-year era. DSU (6-12) had won six of its first 13 road game to begin the 2022 season, though that mark took a hit after the four-game series sweep at Cal Poly (4/1-3) and last Tuesday's loss at UNLV. That said, the Blazers need just two more win to eclipse last year's 7-23 road record in their D-I debut 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 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 an even 176-176-1 (.500) 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 471-293-1 (.616) all-time through 15-plus years of NCAA competition (765 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 9-3 vs. in-state opponents thanks its victory over BYU back on April 5, and the Blazers' series win vs. UVU to open WAC play last month (March 4-6).

ROUND AND ROUND: Dixie State has batted around five times in its last 24 games, including in the eighth inning of the Blazers' come-from-behind series clinching win at Seattle U (3/27). DSU sent 10 batters to the plate and came away with six runs to take a 9-7 lead.
    All five instances have come in WAC play, including two times 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 preseason attention leading into the 2022 campaign, and at the halfway point of the season, he has shown he is worthy of the hype.
    The sophomore backstop was voted to the preseason all-WAC 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 (.305/4 HR/21 RBI) has hit better than .300 in five of DSU's first nine series this season, including a .500 clip (6-for-12) in the NM State series (3/18-20), which included a 4-for-5 day with two doubles and his second career grand slam in the G2 win. He wound up driving in seven runs in the series with four runs scored.
    Hollow, who is batting .339 and has driven in 14 of his 21 runs 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 also connected for his team-leading fourth HR of the season in the Blazers' home win vs. BYU (4/5).
    While he has done the job at the plate, Hollow has shined behind it as well, having thrown out a WAC-high 12 of 30 potential base stealers, including three vs. UVU (3/4-6), and four in the North Dakota State series (2/25-27). In fact, Hollow, who has 29 assists in 27 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 continues to be the catalyst out of the lead-off spot for the Trailblazers ... Taylor batted an even .500 (7-for-14) in four starts last week, which started with a 1-for-2 night with his second career triple, two walks, one RBI and two runs scored in Tuesday's win over BYU ... he then batted .500 (6-for-12) in the GCU series, which included his fourth homer of the year in G2, and finished that series with four RBI and three runs scored.  
* - The sophomore followed that up by extending his current hit streak to a career-high tying six games after a 1-for-3 effort with an RBI at UNLV last Tuesday night ... Taylor also flashed the leather as he made three big plays in the Rebel fifth, including a diving stop and throw to open the frame, and two more plays later in the frame to get DSU out of a bases loaded jam without allowing a run.
* - Taylor is batting .367 in WAC play, with all four of his homers and 15 of his team-leading 28 RBI coming against conference pitching.  
* - Taylor opened the year batting .455 (5-for-11) with a double and three RBI in the Arizona State (2/18-20) series, and followed that up with a .467 clip (7-for-15) in four starts vs. NDSU (2/25-27).
* - Taylor currently leads the club in average (.347), hits (42), doubles (8), runs scored (29), all of which ranks him in the WAC's top-20 in each category.
* - In fact, the entire left side of the DSU infield has been arguably one of the better combos in the west offensively in the early going as Ivancich is fourth on the club with a .310 average with 17 RBI, 17 runs scored and a team high seven SBs in 30 games ... Ivancich, who has hit safely in four of his last seven games, doubled and scored two runs in the Blazers' home win vs. BYU (4/5).
* - 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 has been on a offensive tear over his last 18 games, batting a combined .366 (15-for-41) during this current stretch, including an even .500 clip in the NM State series with three walks, three RBI and a team-high five runs scored in three starts ... he also hit .444 (4-of-9) with a double and two runs in three games vs. GCU last weekend.
* - Speaking of staying hot, after opening the season one for his first 21 at the plate, sophomore OF/C Parker Schmidt is batting .357 (20-for-56) over his last 15 games ... Schmidt has hit safely in 12 of those 15 outings with eight two-hit games, including two hits in the final two games of the GCU series last weekend ... Schmidt also drove in a run in each of those two games, highlighted by his first home run of the season in the fifth inning of Saturday's middle game.
* - Senior 2B Tyler Hollow (182) moved into sixth place on DSU's career hits list after going 2-for-4 with an RBI at UNLV last Tuesday night ... Hollow got the Trailblazers on the board with a two-out, RBI-single in the first inning ... Hollow is batting .322 (10-for-31) over his last nine games, including a .333 (4-of-12) clip at Cal Poly ... Hollow also vaulted into t-sixth in career doubles with his 33rd career two-bagger in the UVU series (3/4-6), and batted an even .400 overall with two RBI in that 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 later in the week in the series finale vs. NM State (3/20), and had a hit and a run scored at UNLV last Tuesday.    
* - Junior RF Tyson Fisher pounded out his 27th career XBH with a double in the series finale at Cal Poly (4/3), which was his 14th career double overall ... 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, six-RBI list after his banner day in the series opener vs. Utah Valley (3/4) ... Rodriguez did his damage with a two-run double, a 3R-HR and an RBI ground out.
* - Sophomore OF Jack Walker enjoyed a breakout series at Seattle U (3/25-27), batting an even .500 (5-for-10) in two starts with an RBI, three runs and one stolen base ... Walker collected three of those hits in the G2 win, while his lone RBI in the set proved to be a big one as he drove in the eventual GW-run on a 12th-inning infield single in the series finale.
* - Sophomore RHP Brett Porthan saw his five-game, season-opening win streak halted in the series opener at Cal Poly (4/1) ... Porthan went into that start as the first Trailblazer since 2017 to open a season 5-0 after he earned the decision in the G2 win at Seattle U (3/26).
* - Porthan, who will start G2 at UVU on Friday, leads the staff with 36 strikeouts in 43.1 IP through eight starts this season.
* - After a couple recent rocky outings, sophomore RHP Dillon Holliday enters the week looking to duplicate his efforts in a start in the series opener vs. NM State (3/18), against which he surrendered only one earned run (2R total) and seven hits over seven innings to earn his second win of the year.
* - Holliday, who made his first relief appearance at UNLV on Tuesday night, struck out one in 0.2 innings of relief ... "Doc" will also look for a better result if he is called upon at UVU this weekend ... Holliday was the G1 starter vs. UVU and surrendered five runs (four earned) on seven hits in 2.2 IP vs. the Wolverines back on March 4, though he did not figure in the decision.
* - Freshman lefthander Justin Woodbury recorded a rare four-strikeout frame in the eighth inning the G1 vs. NM State (3/18) ... Woodbury fanned all four hitters he faced in the stanza, this after his second strikeout victim reached base on a wild pitch after a swinging third strike ... Woodbury has made 12 appearances out of the Blazer bullpen this season and has struck out nine in 9.1 innings of work.
* - Junior RHP Jake Dahle got the start at UNLV last Tuesday night and worked a season-high tying 5.1 innings, surrendering  only one run and seven hits with three punchouts, though he did not figure in the decision.
* - Dahle picked up his second win of the season in DSU's victory over BYU (4/5) ... Dahle scattered two runs and six hits over 5.1 innings with a DSU career-best four strikeouts ... Dahle also earned the decision in his midweek start at Nevada (3/16), against which he limited the high-powered Wolf Pack offense to just two runs and four hits over five innings complete with one strikeout.
* - Junior RHP Zach Thomas did it with his bat, and his arm, in DSU's series win at Seattle U (3/25-27) ... Thomas, who has transitioned into a starting role at either first base/DH over the last four weeks, hit safely and scored at least one run in all three games on his way to a .538 clip with two HRs, five RBI and five runs scored.
* - Thomas belted his first collegiate HR as part of a 2-for-5 day with two runs scored in the 9-1 G2 win ... then he one-upped himself in the G3 11-9 extra inning triumph, when he went 4-for-5 at the plate with a three-run HR, and finished with four RBI and two runs scored offensively ... then for good measure, he threw 3.0 of hitless relief and struck out two to earn the decision in DSU's 12-inning series clinching win.
* - Thomas' dual-threat also helped lead Dixie State to the win at Nevada (3/16) ... the junior started the Blazers' sixth-inning rally with a pinch-hit, lead-off triple and scored the team's first run ... he 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.  
* - Dixie State's defense has turned 32 double plays through 32 games this season, which includes seven twin killings in NM State series, and five more three weekends ago at Seattle U.
* - DSU's 31 double plays ranks second in the WAC (CBU - 37), and is good (unofficially) for t-eighth overall nationally, however DSU (and CBU) is not eligible to be listed in the NCAA rankings during its four-year transition to Division I status.
* - On the flip side, DSU has hit into 30 twin killings to this point of the season, which leads the WAC and is t-eighth (unofficially) nationally.
 
FREE BASEBALL: After not playing an extra inning game in two full seasons in 2019 and 2020, Dixie State has played in eight extra inning affairs since its move to Division I, all of which have come over the Blazers' 59 games, including three already this season.  
    DSU improved to 2-1 in extra frames this season after the Blazers' 12-inning win at Seattle U (3/27), which marked the sixth time in the program's NCAA era that Dixie State played in a 12-inning contest (4-2).
    The Trailblazers are currently 4-4 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 nationally-ranked 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 35-19 (.648) in 54 total extra-inning games in the program's four-year era, 17-9 in 10-inning games, and the program has won nine of its last 15 extra inning games overall.

ABOUT THE UTAH VALLEY "WOLVERINES": Utah Valley enters the weekend winners of four of its last seven, which includes a convincing 14-3 home win over PAC-12 member Utah (4/5), and taking two of three in a WAC road series at Seattle U last weekend.
    Senior infielder Mitch Morales leads the Wolverine offense with a .381 average with 10 doubles, five homers and 19 RBI. Meanwhile junior infielder Mick Madsen is batting .327 with nine XBH and 17 RBI.  
    As a team, UVU is batting .266 through 33 games and averaging 5.2 a game, while the Wolverine pitching staff owns a 6.52 ERA and has struck out 191 in 273.1 IP.  

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State returns home for a big three-game WAC series vs. Sacramento State next weekend, April 22-24, at Bruce Hurst Field.