Zach Thomas homered and drove in a career-high five runs as the Trailblazer Baseball program recorded the final home victory for "Dixie State University" in a 9-4 triumph over in-state rival Utah on Wednesday afternoon at Bruce Hurst Field. With the win, DSU improved to 19-29 overall and finished with an overall home record of 11-11.
 
The Trailblazers led wire-to-wire, scoring runs in three of their first four offensive innings to race out to a commanding 8-1 lead. Thomas opened the scoring with an RBI-single in the home first, while DSU got a run-scoring groundout from Jake Schulz and consecutive RBI hits from Ethan He and Parker Schmidt in the second frame to extend to a 4-0 advantage.
 
After Utah (25-21-1) pushed across its first tally in the top of the fourth, Dixie State blew the game open with four on five hits, with the big blow coming on a towering three-run Thomas blast to stake the Blazers to their seven-run cushion.
 
The Utes would counter with single runs in each of the next three innings, while Thomas would drive in his fifth run on a sixth inning flyout. Meanwhile, three Blazer relievers combined to limit Utah to just those three runs and four total hits from the fourth on, with righthander Ryan Hardman tossing three innings of hitless relief with a pair of strikeouts to earn his third save of the season.
 
The top-three hitters in the Dixie State lineup combined to go 9-for-10 at the plate with eight RBI and four runs scored, with Thomas leading the way with three total hits to go with his homer and RBI total. For Thomas, it was his fourth long ball of the season and his second three-run shot in a week, with the first coming last Friday at home vs. Seattle U.
 
He also posted career highs in hits and RBI as the freshman shortstop drove in two runs as part of a 3-for-4 day with two runs scored.
 
Not to be outdone, Schmidt wound up 3-for-3 as the Trailblazers outhit Utah by a 14-6 count. Senior reliever Scott Wright (W, 1-2) was credited with the win after he struck out two in two scoreless innings of work.  
 
Dixie State will close out the 2022 season with a seven-game southern California road trip, which begins with a non-conference series at No. 9 UC Santa Barbara this Friday-through-Sunday.