Game Times (Mountain):
Friday - 6 p.m.
Saturday - 2 p.m.
Sunday - 12 noon
Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | GCU - PDF
Live Streaming:  GAME #1 - ESPN+ | GAME #2 - ESPN+ | GAME #3 - ESPN+
Live Stats: vs. GCU
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @Dixie_Baseball | #DixieBlazers | #WACbsb
 
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – RHP #18 Brett Porthan (5-1, 5.21 ERA) vs. RHP #5 Nick Hull (2-1, 2.25 ERA)
Saturday (G2) – RHP #29 Dillon Holliday (2-4, 5.20 ERA) vs. RHP #13 Daniel Avitia (3-3, 1.64 ERA)
Sunday (G3) – RHP #21 Ryan Hardman (2-1, 4.88 ERA) vs. LHP #15 Connor Markl (5-1, 3.75 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: Dixie State (14-14/8-4 - t-2nd WAC West) returns to Western Athletic Conference play this weekend as the Trailblazers welcome in West Division leading Grand Canyon (20-11/10-2 WAC) to Bruce Hurst Field for a big three game series.
    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 owns a 34-23 all-time series lead vs. Grand Canyon, including an 18-8 mark at Bruce Hurst Field, in a series that dates back to when both programs were members of the Pacific West Conference. The two teams renewed that rivalry last year in Phoenix, but it was the Lopes who got the better of the Trailblazers in a four-game home series sweep at GCU Ballpark (May 7-9).
    Prior to last year's series, DSU and GCU last met in the the 2013 season, which was GCU's last season in the PacWest before its transition to NCAA Division I status and the program's move to the Western Athletic Conference.
    That season, the Trailblazers won six of the eight meetings between the two teams, including a three-game sweep in Phoenix (May 3-4). However the Lopes claimed the final game of the season series by a 12-3 count (5/16/13) at the 2013 NCAA Division II West Regional tournament, which was hosted by Dixie State.

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 292-174-1 (.626) overall record at DSU, and a 344-233-1 (.596) 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 closed out their eight-game road swing on a sour note as they were swept in a four game non-conference series at Cal Poly last weekend in San Luis Obispo. DSU was outscored 32-10 in the four games, which also marked just the second time this season that the club had lost a series.
    However Dixie State bounced back in a big way this past Tuesday night when the Blazers stopped the skid with a 7-5 home victory over in-state rival BYU at Bruce Hurst Field. Kaden Hollow homered and drove in three runs, while junior RHP Jake Dahle struck out four over 5.1 innings to earn his second win of the season. DSU also set an NCAA-era attendance record as 1,951 fans packed Bruce Hurst Field for the in-state clash.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Trailblazers have played to a 295-113 (.723) overall record in 408 games played inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era, which includes an 8-3 start this season.
    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 162-165-1 overall road record (.495) in its four-year era. DSU (6-11) had won six of its first 13 road game to begin the 2022 season, though that mark took a hit last weekend with the four-game sweep at Cal Poly. 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 471-289-1 (.619) all-time through 15-plus years of NCAA competition (756 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 to Tuesday's victory over BYU, 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 20 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 (.320/4 HR/19 RBI) has hit better than .300 in five of DSU's first eight 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 .375 and has driven in 12 of his 16 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 last Tuesday's home win vs. BYU.
    While he has done the job at the plate, Hollow has shined behind it as well, having thrown out a WAC-high 11 of 27 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 26 assists in 23 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 .308 (4-for-13) in the Cal Poly series with three walks, two RBI and two runs scored over the four games ... the sophomore followed that up with his second career triple along with two more walks, one RBI and two runs in Tuesday's win over BYU.
* - Taylor is batting .333 in WAC play, with all three of his homers and 11 of his team-leading 24 RBI coming against conference pitching ... he hit an even .500 (5-for-10) in three games vs. NM State (3/18-20) with three walks and four runs scored ... 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 the series finale vs. the Aggies.   
* - 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 (.330), hits (35), doubles (8), runs scored (25).
* - In fact, the entire left side of the DSU infield has been arguably one of the best in the west offensively in the early going as Ivancich is sixth on the club with a .316 average with 17 RBI, 15 runs scored and a team high seven SBs in 27 games ... Ivancich, who has hit safely in three-straight games, doubled and scored two runs in the Blazers' win vs. BYU on Tuesday night.
* - 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 also did something this past Tuesday night vs. BYU that he had not done since his freshman year - he hit into a double play ... Leavitt grounded into a double play in his 15th plate appearance (ninth AB) as a freshman in G1 vs. Colorado Mesa (2/16/18), then went the next 457 plate appearances (344 ABs) before hitting into just his second career twin killing in his final at-bat in the eighth inning vs. the Cougars.
* - Leavitt has been on a offensive tear over his last 14 games, batting a combined .367 (11-for-30) over 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.
* - Senior 2B Tyler Hollow (177) enters this weekend four hits shy of moving into solo sixth place on DSU's career hits list ... Hollow batted .333 (4-of-12) in the Cal Poly series, and collected a single in four at-bats vs. BYU to push his current hit streak to three games ... 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).     
* - Junior RF Tyson Fisher pounded out his 27th career XBH with a double in the series finale at Cal Poly last Sunday, 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.
* - Rodriguez broke an 0-for-11 stretch with two hits in Tuesday win over BYU ... prior to that stretch, the sophomore had batted .500 (10-for-22) over his previous eight games with three XBH and eight RBI ... C-Rod batted .625 (5-for-8) in two games vs. NM State (3/18-20), then after he legged out a three-run triple at CSUN (3/22), the sophomore hit a combined .364 in three games at Seattle U (3/25-27) with a double and two more RBI.
* - 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 last Friday's loss at Cal Poly ... 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 fanned three and only allowed one run and five hits in 5.0 innings.
* - 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, who will start Friday's series opener vs. GCU, leads the staff with 35 strikeouts in 38.0 IP through seven starts this season.
* - Sophomore RHP Dillon Holliday, who will start G2 on Saturday vs. GCU, will look to duplicate his efforts in his last home 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.
* - 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.
* - Holliday ran into a bit of bad luck in his start at Cal Poly last Saturday as three costly errors led to four unearned Mustang runs in the fifth, which turned a 4-2 Blazer lead into an eventual 6-4 loss ... the sophomore worked six innings in that outing, striking out three and scattering seven hits, while only two of the six runs allowed were earned.  
* - 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 only pitched two-thirds of an inning in the Seattle U series, though he did collect his sixth K in his eighth appearance (5.2 IP) overall this season.
* - Despite struggling 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 (19 K in 14.1 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 nationally-ranked 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.
* - Junior RHP Jake Dahle picked up his second win of the season in Tuesday's victory over BYU ... Dahle tied a season-high working 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on 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.
* - 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 moved into a starting role at either first base/DH over the last three 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 29 double plays through 28 games this season, which includes seven twin killings in NM State series, and five more two weekends ago at Seattle U.
* - DSU's 29 double plays ranks second in the WAC (CBU - 33), and is good (unofficially) for 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 26 twin killings to this point of the season, which leads the WAC and is t-13th (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' 55 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 GRAND CANYON "LOPES": Grand Canyon (20-11) travels to St. George as winners of three-straight and six of its last eight, which includes a two-game home sweep of No. 4 Texas Tech last Tuesday (W, 9-4) and Wednesday (W, 8-7) in Phoenix.
    The Lopes have also opened WAC play with a 10-2 mark and owns a two-game lead on both DSU and CBU heading into this weekend's series.
    Sophomore SS Jacob Wilson is the Lopes' top offensive threat as he enters the weekend ranked second in the WAC in HR (8) and RBI (35) and t-fifth in batting (.393).
    Meanwhile, the Lopes' probable rotation of RHPs Nick Hull (2-1, 2.25 ERA) and Daniel Avitia (3-3, 1.64 ERA) and LHP Connor Markl (5-1, 3.75 ERA) is a combined 10-4 in 22 appearances (17 starts) this season.      
    As a team, GCU is batting .291 and averaging 6.4 runs a game, while the Lopes pitching staff leads the WAC in ERA (3.71) and strikeouts (296; 9.5 kpg).

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Dixie State heads back on the road for four-straight games next week, starting with a mid-week date at UNLV on Tuesday, April 12. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. (PT), at Earl E. Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas.