Game Times (Mountain):
Friday - 6 p.m.
Saturday - 2 p.m.
Sunday - 12 noon
Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | CSUS - PDF
Live Streaming:  GAME #1 - ESPN+ | GAME #2 - ESPN+ | GAME #3 - ESPN+
Live Stats: vs. SACRAMENTO STATE
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Baseball | #DixieBlazers | #WACbsb
 
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – RHP #23 Jake Dahle (2-2, 4.99 ERA) vs. RHP #19 Eli Saul (5-0, 3.02 ERA)
Saturday (G2) – RHP #18 Brett Porthan (5-3, 6.06 ERA) vs. RHP #27 Colin Hunter (2-3, 4.27 ERA)
Sunday (G3) – RHP #21 Ryan Hardman (2-1, 5.29 ERA) vs. RHP #14 Noah Takacs (0-2, 9.72 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: Dixie State (15-20) returns to Bruce Hurst Field this weekend for a big three game WAC home series vs. Sacramento State (18-18). The two teams come into the weekend tied for third in the WAC West Division standings at 9-9, three games back of second place California Baptist (9-6) in the loss column, and six games back of division leader Grand Canyon (15-3).
    Friday night's series opener will start at 6 p.m., followed the middle game on Saturday at 2 p.m., and the series finale on Sunday at 12 noon.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Dixie State is 3-4 all-time vs. Sacramento State, though the Trailblazers have won three of the last four meetings, including a 2-1 series victory last month in Sacramento (March 11-13). This weekend's set will also be the first series between the two sides in St. George, as the previous seven games have been played on the Hornets' home diamond.

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 293-180-1 (.619) overall record at DSU, and a 345-239-1 (.590) 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).

COACH PFATE NEARING THREE MAJOR MILESTONES: Coach Pfatenhauer heads into the final 20 games of the 2022 season with three major career milestones in reach. To date, Coach Pfate stands just five wins away from career win No. 350, and is now seven wins shy of win No. 300 as Dixie State skipper.
    In addition, Coach Pfate is slated to coach in his 600th-career game when the Trailblazers take the field in game two of their road series at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, May 14.

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State lost its second-straight WAC series and saw its conference mark fall to .500 after dropping two of three last weekend at in-state rival Utah Valley. DSU came out on the short end of the first two games of the set, 5-4 and 12-8, before powering past the Wolverines in the series finale last Saturday, 8-5. The Trailblazers pounded out three homers and 15 hits in the win, which snapped their season-long six game losing streak.

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. However DSU will be looking to recapture its home dominance this weekend after having lost four of its last five on the home diamond overall, which dropped the Blazers' home record to 8-6 on the season.
    The current stretch includes being swept by GCU earlier this month (4/8-10), which 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 163-168-1 overall road record (.492) in its four-year era. DSU (7-14) 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 weekend's series loss at UVU. That said, thanks to Saturday's win at UVU, the Blazers have matched their total road win total (7-23) from their D-I debut season last year.
    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 472-295-1 (.615) all-time through 15-plus years of NCAA competition (768 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 is now 10-5 vs. in-state opponents thanks its victory over BYU back on April 5, while the Blazers finished their season series vs. UVU with a 3-3 mark. DSU will play at Utah next Tuesday in Salt Lake City, and will close out its in-state slate at BYU (May 10) and at home vs. Utah (May 11) next month.

ROUND AND ROUND: Dixie State has batted around five times in its last 27 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 in the eighth inning and came away with six runs to take a 9-7 lead.
    In fact, 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 through 35 games this 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 (.305/5 HR/25 RBI) has hit better than .300 in six of DSU's first 10 series this season, including a .308 clip (4-for-13) with his team-leading fifth homer of the season (G3) and four RBI in the UVU series last weekend. He also batted an even .500 (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 .333 and has driven in 18 of his 25 runs against WAC pitching, also hit an even .500 (5-for-10) at home 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).
    While he has done the job at the plate, Hollow has shined behind it as well, having thrown out a WAC-high 13 of 31 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 33 assists in 29 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.

BASH BROTHERS: Kaden Hollow, along with his older brother Tyler Hollow, made a little history in DSU's win at UVU last Saturday as they became the first brother duo in the program's NCAA era to homer in the same game.
    Before Kaden hit his team-leading fifth home run in the ninth inning, Tyler connected for his first homer of the year in the DSU fourth. In fact, it was the older Hollow's first homer in nearly three years - a span of 269 ABs overall.
    The senior 2B's last homer came in his first at-bat against UCCS in the opening game of the 2019 RMAC Tournament (5/8/19) during his sophomore season when he hit four long balls and drove in 52 runs in 53 games. He did not hit a homer in 63 ABs during the COVID-shortened season in 2020, and only had 69 ABs in an injury plagued 2021 campaign.
    Tyler batted a team-high .417 (5-for-12) in the UVU series with three XBHs, including two doubles, and finished with two RBI. His two doubles moved him into fifth place (35) on DSU's career doubles list, and he is currently sixth in career hits with 187, and he enters this week 13 hits shy of becoming just the third player in DSU's NCAA era to reach the 200-hit plateau.
    Tyler is batting .354 (17-for-48) over his last 13 games and has hit safely in four-straight and in 11 of those 13 starts overall with six two-hit outings.

TRAILBLAZER QUICK HITS:
* - After batting lead-off through the first 32 games this season, sophomore 3B Shane Taylor hit second in the UVU series opener and batted third in the final two games ... Taylor went hitless with a walk and RBI in that first game, which snapped his career-best six game hit streak, though he came back with a hit and three runs scored in game two ... he then followed that up with a 3-for-5 effort with a stolen base and a run in the finale to finish the series with a .333 average (4-for-12).
* - Taylor has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games overall and is batting .410 (16-for-39) over that stretch with five multi-hit outings, including two three-hit games, along with three XBHs, nine RBI and 11 runs scored.
* - Taylor batted .500 (6-for-12) in the GCU series (4/8-10), which included his fourth homer of the year in G2, and finished that series with four RBI and three runs scored.  
* - Taylor is batting .361 in WAC play, with all four of his homers and 16 of his team-leading 30 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 (.346), hits (46), doubles (8), runs scored (32), all of which ranks him in the WAC's top-25 in each category.
* - 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.
* - That all said, it only took Leavitt 85 more ABs to smash his second career homer, which came in the fifth inning of Saturday's win at UVU.
* - Leavitt has been on a offensive tear over his last 21 games, batting a combined .347 (17-for-49) during this current stretch, including an even .500 clip in the NM State series (3/18-20) 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 (4/8-10).
* - Speaking of staying hot, after opening the season one for his first 21 at the plate, sophomore OF/C Parker Schmidt is batting .360 (22-for-61) over his last 17 games ... Schmidt has hit safely in 14 of those 17 outings with eight two-hit games, including two hits in the final two games of the GCU series (4/8-10) ... 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 game two ... Schmidt collected his 11th RBI of the year with an eighth inning pinch-hit single in Saturday's finale at UVU.
* - 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 (4/12).    
* - Junior RF Tyson Fisher pounded out his 54th career XBH with a two-run double in the series opener at UVU (4/14), which was his 25th 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 home 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 Landon Levine earned two starts in the UVU series and responded with his first RBI (and fifth career RBI) of the year with a second-inning single in G2 last Friday that got the Blazers on the scoreboard ... sophomore DH Will Chambers followed that up with a two-run double in the fourth to give DSU a 4-1 lead.
* - Sophomore reserve catcher Hank Dodson connected for his second collegiate home run in the eighth inning of G2 at UVU ... Dodson drove a 1-0 pitch completely out of UCCU Ballpark and into a pond that sits beyond the left field wall and stadium outer fence.
* - 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 vs. Sac State on Saturday, leads the staff with 40 strikeouts in 49.0 IP through nine starts this season.
* - Senior RHP Jimmy Borzone enjoyed his finest outing of the year in the series opener at UVU (4/14), tossing 5.1 innings of one-hit relief with a season-high 10 strikeouts ... his 10 Ks marked the second time the senior had reached double figures in strikeouts, the first coming last year when he punched out 14 in seven-inning CG win vs. Northern Colorado (5/21) ... Borzone's 14K performance was one off DSU's NCAA-era record 15 set by former DSU hurler Mike Dedrick at Academy of Art in the 2011 season (2/26/11).
* - Freshman lefthander Justin Woodbury earned his first collegiate victory in the series finale at UVU last Saturday, against which he fired two spotless innings with three strikeouts ... Woodbury recorded a rare four-strikeout frame in the eighth inning the G1 vs. NM State (3/18) when he 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 13 appearances out of the Blazer bullpen this season and has struck out 12 in 11.1 innings of work.
* - Junior RHP Jake Dahle, who will start Friday's opener vs. Sacramento State, got the start at UNLV (4/12) and worked a season-high tying 5.1 innings, surrendering  only one run and seven hits with three punch outs, 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 37 double plays through 35 games this season, which includes seven twin killings in NM State series, and five more last weekend at UVU.
* - DSU's 37 double plays ranks second in the WAC (CBU - 39), and is good (unofficially) for t-fifth 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 31 twin killings to this point of the season, which leads the WAC and is t-22nd (unofficially) nationally, though the Blazers only hit in one DP last weekend at UVU.
 
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' 62 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).
    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 SACRAMENTO STATE "HORNETS": Sacramento State travels to St. George carrying an 18-18 overall record, though the Hornets have won three of their last four overall, including a 13-6 non-conference road win at Pacific this past Tuesday night. Sac State is also coming off a home series win over Seattle U last weekend.
    Sophomore outfielder Cesar Valero is the Hornets' top hitter and is currently the WAC co-leader in homers (12) and is ranked fifth in RBI (37) to go with a .307 average.
    Sophomore righthander Eli Saul, who is the probable game one starter on Friday night, is 5-0 in nine appearances and leads the Hornet staff in ERA (3.02) and strikeouts (43 in 50.2 IP).
    As a team, Sacramento State is batting .270 and averaging 5.8 runs a game, while the Hornet pitching staff owns a 5.88 ERA and has struck out 286 in 309.1 IP.  

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State heads north on the I-15 to Salt Lake City for a midweek date at in-state rival Utah next Tuesday, April 26. First pitch is slated for 4:05 p.m. at Smith's Ballpark, which is also the AAA home of the Salt Lake Bees.