Utah Tech dropped the middle two games of its 2023 season opening series with Portland on Saturday at Bruce Hurst Field. The Trailblazers saw a late rally come up just short in a 6-4 loss in seven innings in game one, while they could not overcome three big Pilot offensive innings in a 21-11 decision in the nightcap.
As they did in the series opener on Friday night, the Pilots put up a crooked number on the scoreboard to begin Saturday's first game, striking for three first-inning runs to vault to an early lead.
Utah Tech (0-3) got one of those runs back thanks to a Portland error in the third, only to see the Pilots tack on two more runs in the fifth to extend to a 5-1 advantage.
The Trailblazers countered with two runs of their own in the home fifth, which came on freshman
Bryker Hurdsman's first collegiate home run after
Ethan He led off the frame with a double.
After Utah Tech got a much needed shutdown inning in the Pilot sixth,
Jack Walker tripled to lead off the Blazer sixth.
Garrett Cutting then singled to chase Walker home, which followed by a He walk.
However Portland (3-0) would escape further damage as Pilot reliever Jack Folkins retired all three UT hitters he faced to send the game to the seventh.
After Portland struck for an insurance run in the seventh, the Blazers were issued consecutive walks by Folkins to start their final offensive frame. UP hurler Jacob Dobmeier (S, 1) came on the record the final three outs to end the game.
Utah Tech tallied six hits in the opener, with Cutting accounting for two of those six safeties. Junior righthander
Ryan Hardman (L, 0-1) scattered three runs and six hits with three strikeouts over 3.2 innings in his first start of the year.
In the nightcap, the Trailblazers turned the early tables on the Pilots as they jumped out to early the 3-0 advantage after two innings complete. UT scored an unearned run in the first, then plated two more on a Walker solo homer and a He RBI-single.
However that lead would evaporate as Portland erupted for six runs in the third and four more in the fourth to jump out in front 10-3.
UT answered with a two-run
Shane Taylor double in the fourth, then after the Pilots scored a run in the fifth, the Trailblazers plated six runs in the sixth to tie the game at 11-11.
Taylor drove in the first run of the inning with a one-out single, which was one of only two hits Utah Tech would record in the rally. The Trailblazers would tack on two more runs on consecutive bases loaded walks, while Walker laced a two-out, two-run single to center to make it an 11-10 game.
Utah Tech would then plate the tying run thanks to a Pilot throwing error on a Walker stolen base attempt, which allowed Cutting to scamper home from third.
Portland broke the tie with a Henry Muench lead off homer in the seventh, then put the game out of reach with nine runs in the ninth.
Taylor led Utah Tech with three hits and three RBI, while Walker and Hurdsman collected two hits apiece as UT pounded out 12 hits in the game.
Utah Tech will look to salvage the final game of its four-game weekend on Sunday afternoon beginning at 12:05 p.m.
