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: GAME #1 | GAME #2 | GAME #3
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Baseball | #DixieBlazers | #WACbsb
 
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – RHP #23 Jake Dahle (2-2, 5.00 ERA) vs. RHP #18 Ian Mejia (3-2, 3.99 ERA)
Saturday (G2) – RHP #18 Brett Porthan (5-4, 6.75 ERA) vs. RHP #32 Pablo Cortes (3-3, 6.15 ERA)
Sunday (G3) – RHP #21 Ryan Hardman (3-1, 4.81 ERA) vs. TBD

FIRST PITCH: Dixie State (16-23/10-11 WAC) returns to WAC play this weekend with a three-game road series at New Mexico State (16-22/6-12 WAC).
    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., at Presley Askew Field (1,000) in Las Cruces.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Dixie State is 3-4 all-time vs. New Mexico State, which includes 2-1 home series win last month at Bruce Hurst Field. The two teams also met in a four game series in Las Cruces last season, during which the Aggies claimed the first three games of the 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.

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 294-183-1 (.616) overall record at DSU, and a 346-242-1 (.588) 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 16 games of the 2022 season with three major career milestones in reach. To date, Coach Pfate stands just four wins away from career win No. 350, and is now six 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 saw its overall April record fall to 3-13 after dropping a 12-1 decision at in-state rival Utah on Tuesday afternoon in Salt Lake City. DSU took a 1-0 second-inning lead, only to see the Utes rally for 12 unanswered runs over their last seven offensive frames to come away with the home victory.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Trailblazers have played to a 296-118 (.715) overall record in 414 games played inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era. However that mark (9-8) took a little bit of a hit in April as the Trailblazers lost five of their seven home dates this month, this after opening the season 7-3 at home.  
    The current stretch includes being swept by Grand Canyon 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 163-169-1 overall road record (.490) in its four-year era. DSU (7-14) had won six of its first 13 road game to begin the 2022 season, though after a four-game series sweep at Cal Poly (4/1-3), and the WAC road series loss at UVU, that record has dipped to 7-15. That said, thanks to a game three win at UVU (4/16), 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 177-180-1 (.496) 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 473-297-1 (.614) all-time through 15-plus years of NCAA competition (771 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 10-6 vs. in-state opponents, which includes its home victory over BYU back on April 5, and last Tuesday's road loss at Utah, while the Blazers finished their season series vs. UVU with a 3-3 mark.
    The Blazers' will close out its 2022 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 31 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 38 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 (.299/5 HR/25 RBI) has hit better than .300 in six of DSU's first 11 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 road series (4/14-16). 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 .318 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 (3/11-13), 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 34 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 34 assists in 31 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 back on April 16, 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 road series (4/14-16) with three XBHs, including two doubles, and finished with two RBI. He also doubled and scored four runs in three starts vs. Sac State last weekend. The elder Hollow enters this week's action t-fourth all-time DSU program history in doubles (37) and hits (191), needing only nine more safeties to become just the third player in DSU's NCAA era to reach the 200-hit plateau.
    Tyler is batting .333 (21-for-63) over his last 17 games and has hit safely in seven of his last eight, and in 13 of those 17 starts overall with six two-hit outings, including a 2-for-4 day with his 37th-career double in last Tuesday's loss at Utah.
 
TRAILBLAZER QUICK HITS:
* - Sophomore 3B Shane Taylor returned to the lead-off spot in the final two games of the Sac State series and after an 0-of-3 day last Saturday, he responded with a career-high tying four hits, which included his team-leading ninth double and co-team high fifth homer.
* Taylor wound up hitting .417 (5-for-12) in the CSUS series and has hit safely in 11 of his last 15 games overall ... the sophomore is batting .396 (21-for-53) over that stretch with six multi-hit outings, including two three-hit games, along with five XBHs, 11 RBI and 12 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 hitting .369 in WAC play, with all five of his homers and 18 of his team-leading 32 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).
* - In addition to his team-high double and HR totals, Taylor currently leads the club in average (.347), hits (51) and runs scored (33), all of which ranks him in the WAC's top-25 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 this season as Ivancich is second on the club with a .305 average with 21 RBI, 19 runs scored and a team high seven SBs in 37 games ... Ivancich clubbed his second HR of the season in Sunday's finale vs. Sac State, which was one of three homers the Blazers would hit on the day ... the senior SS also had a hit and RBI at Utah on Tuesday afternoon.
* - Speaking of staying hot, after opening the season one for his first 21 at the plate, sophomore OF/C Parker Schmidt is batting .365 (27-for-74) over his last 21 games, including an even .500 clip (5-for-10) in the Sac State series with a double and four runs scored ... Schmidt has hit safely in five of his last six, and in 17 of his last 21 games overall with 10 two-hit games, including two hits and an RBI in each of the final two games of the Sac State series.
* - 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 DSU's road win at UVU (4/16).
* - Junior RF Tyson Fisher returned to form in a big way in the Sac State series, batting .333 with four XBHs, two RBI and four runs scored in three starts ... he legged out a double in each game of the series, and also blasted his 25th-career home run in Sunday's finale ... he now has 58 career XBH to his credit, including 28 career doubles to go along with five triples.
* - Fisher's dinger on Sunday also moved him past another Tyson - Tyson Littlewood (24 HR; 2009-12), for solo fourth place on DSU's career HR list ... Fisher now stands eight homers shy of breaking DSU's career HR record, which was set last year by former teammate Jake Engel (32 HR; 2017-21).
* - Fisher feasted on Sacramento State pitching this season, highlighted by a two homer night with a career-high six RBI in DSU's 18-7 road win (3/12) ... 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.
* - 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.
* - Junior 1B/OF Sean Keating returned to action last weekend vs. Sac State, starting in all three games and batted .333 (3-for-9) with a pair of doubles and two RBI ... Keating doubled home one run in Sunday's finale, and he has hit safely in seven of his last eight games overall.
* - Keating returned to the line-up after suffering an injury in the series opener, coincidentally, at Sac State back on March 11 ... Keating was batting .275 (11-for-40) with two doubles and three RBI at the time of the injury.
* - 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.
* - 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 (4/16), 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 picked up a no-decision in last Friday's start vs. Sacramento State, against which he scattered three earned runs (four total) and three hits over 5.1 IP ... it marked the third-straight start and the fourth overall this season that Dahle had lasted exactly 5.1 innings.
* - Dahle got the start at UNLV (4/12) and surrendered just 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 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.
* - After opening the year as the Trailblazers' closer, sophomore RHP Ryan Hardman has started in his last four appearances, highlighted by his first collegiate complete-game victory in Sunday's finale vs. Sac State ... Hardman fanned four and allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings to collect his third win of the season.
* - Hardman picked up saves in two of his first four relief appearances, while two of his three wins on the year have come out of the Blazer bullpen.

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: Dixie State's defense has turned a WAC best 44 double plays through 39 games this season, which includes seven twin killings in NM State series (3/18-20), and five more last weekend vs. Sacramento State. DSU also turned two twice in last Tuesday's game at Utah.
    DSU's 44 double plays on the season are also good (unofficially) for SECOND overall nationally (New Mexico - 47 DPs), however DSU 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 35 twin killings to this point of the season, which also leads the WAC and is t-14th (unofficially) nationally, though the Blazers only hit into only five double plays over their last seven games, including just one DP in three games at UVU two weeks ago.
 
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' 66 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 NEW MEXICO STATE "AGGIES": NM State enters this weekend series with a near identical overall record as DSU (16-22) and has won three of its last five games overall, which includes a road series win at Seattle U last weekend.
    Junior 2B Kevin Jimenez is one of four Aggie regulars batting over .300 as he leads the team in average (.357), hits (51) and runs (34). Meanwhile, sophomore catcher Logan Gallina is currently the WAC home run leader with 14 and is t-third in RBI (42) to go with a .340 average.  
    As a team, NM State is batting .292 and averaging 6.6 runs a game, while the Aggie pitching staff owns a 6.41 ERA and has struck out 336 in 331.1 IP.

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State returns home for a four-game homestand next week, beginning with a midweek home date vs. UNLV on Wednesday, May 4 at 6 p.m.