Dixie State saw a late inning rally come up just short as the Trailblazers opened their three-game road series at New Mexico State with a 6-3 loss on Friday night at Presley Askew Field.
 
DSU (16-24/10-12 WAC) fell into an early 1-0 hole in the Aggie second when strung together three consecutive two-out hits, including an AJ Garcia double to straight-away center field to plate the game's first run.
 
However the Trailblazer defense limited NM State to just the one run as Blazer center fielder Jagun Leavitt fired the ball back into shortstop Mathew Ivancich, who threw a strike to catcher Kaden Hollow to cut the second base runner at the plate to end the inning.  
 
NM State's defense would return the favor with a defensive gem of its own two outs in the DSU third. After Hollow reached on a two-out walk, Zach Thomas doubled to the gap in left center, but the Aggies executed a perfect relay throw from the outfield to the plate to throw out Hollow trying to score from first.
 
New Mexico State (17-22/7-12 WAC) would add another two-out run in the fourth when a DSU infield error extended the inning and led to a Cal Villareal run scoring single.
 
Despite the early deficit, DSU starter Jake Dahle (L, 2-3) kept the Trailblazers in the game, holding the Aggies to just the two runs on five hits over his first five innings of work.
 
Meanwhile his counterpart, Aggie righthander Ian Mejia (W, 4-2) struck out nine Trailblazers and surrendered just four hits over his first five innings of work.
 
The Blazer offense finally cracked the scoreboard in the sixth with a run, which was scored on the front end of a double steal attempt with runners on the corners. Chase Rodriguez reached on a one-out double and after advancing to third on a Tyson Fisher single, Rodriguez plated DSU's first run when Fisher got caught in a rundown.
 
NM State quickly answered with two runs in the home sixth, which came on a two-run Logan Gallina home run that pushed the Aggie lead to 4-1.
 
DSU got one of those runs back in the seventh with a two-out Hollow RBI single, only to see Garcia greet Blazer reliever Scott Wright with a lead-off homer to begin the NMSU seventh to make it a 5-2 game.
 
The Trailblazers mounted another charge in the eighth, which started with a Rodriguez single that ended the night for Mejia. Fisher was then hit by a Lyle Hibbitts pitch and after both base runners were bunted over, Parker Schmidt singled in Rodriguez and moved Fisher over to third.
 
Unfortunately Dixie State was limited to just the one run as Aggie reliever Frank Dickson IV came on to retire the next two Blazers he faced to end the Blazer threat.
 
After NMSU got an eighth-inning insurance run to extend to a 6-3 lead, Shane Taylor and Hollow led off the ninth with back-to-back singles to bring up the potential tying run with no outs.

NM State went to the bullpen again and brought on closer Alex Bustamante (S, 5), who induced a back-breaking double play and struck out Rodriguez to end the game.
 
DSU lost despite outhitting NM State 12-9, with Schmidt leading the way with three hits to go with his RBI, while Taylor, Hollow, Thomas and Rodriguez all had two hits apiece. Dahle allowed three earned runs (four total) and seven hits in a DSU career-high six innings in a losing effort.
 
DSU will look to even the series in game two on Saturday afternoon beginning at 2:05 p.m.