THIS WEEK:
The Trailblazers open WAC play this weekend heading down to Abilene Texas to take on Abilene Christian. The series kicks off with a Saturday double header with the first game starting at 1:00 PM (MT) and the second to follow around 3:00 PM (MT). The three game set will close Sunday morning at 11:00 AM (MT). For live stats and to watch the games go to UtahTechTrailblazers.com.


RUNNING BACK LAST WEEK:
Weather altered the Trailblazers schedule some, but the Blazers still got four games in over the weekend playing double headers on both Friday and Saturday. Utah Tech came away with two wins on the first day taking down Maine 12-1 in five innings and then beating UC Santa Barbara 5-3 in the second game. They played a pair of games vs. UC Santa Barbara Sunday dropping the first game in eight innings 5-7 and falling in the last game of the weekend 3-4.


ROOT ROOT FOR THE HOME TEAM:
Utah Tech is 296-82 overall at home in the NCAA era.
The Trailblazers are 253-68 at home under head coach Randy Simkins.
The Blazers are a stellar 8-1 at Karl Brooks Field this season.


ON THE ROAD AGAIN:
Utah Tech is 181-108 overall on the road.
The Trailblazers are 159-87 on the road under head coach Randy Simkins.
During the 2023 season, UT is 7-7 away from Karl Brooks field.


RECORDS AND STANDINGS:
The Trailblazers enter the weekend with a 15-8 overall record. Sitting third in the WAC standings.

Coming into 2023, UT was picked No. 8 in the WAC Preseason Coaches Polls and had Hannah Hughbanks along with Shea Clements selected to the WAC Preseason All-Conference team.


AT THE PLATE:
The Trailblazers are hitting .312 with a .420 slugging percentage. The team has racked up 193 hits with 32 doubles, four triple, and nine home runs.


IN THE CIRCLE:
Trailblazers pitchers have a team ERA of 3.25. Opponents are hitting .274 with 168 hits and 10 home runs. Utah Tech pitchers have combined for two shutout.


LEADING THE WAY:
The Trailblazers are led by Tanya Windle who is hitting .453 with 34 hits that include three doubles, a triple, and a home run. Windle has also napped one WAC player of the week honor. In the power category Lauren Almeida is the star with a slugging percentage of .683 and a team leading 11 extra base hits including a triple and two home runs with a team high 19 RBI.


In the circle the Trailblazers ace is Sauren Garton. She has pitched in 10 games completing seven of them with two shutouts. She has a team best 2.24 ERA while holding batters to a .129 batting average across 59.1 innings.


CONSISTENT SPOT:
This season there are five Trailblazers that have playing in all 23 games and six who have started in at least 20 of the 23 (Lauren Almeida, Shea Clements, Carly Eldredge, Hannah Hughbanks, Oaklee Trapp, and, Tanya Windle.)


BIG WEEKS:
On the week of 3/6 Sauren Garton did not win WAC pitcher of the week but she had a noteworthy weekend in the circle. She threw two complete games surrendering only one run, six hits, just one walk and struck out seven. She was the driving force in helping the Trailblazers take down Pac-12 foe Oregon state 1-0 and beating a red-hot UNLV team 2-1.


In the week of Feb 27th Hannah Hughbanks won WAC player of the week going 7-11 with 6 walks, 8 runs scored, 10 RBI and two home runs. She is the second Trailblazer to win the award this season.


Back in the first week of the season Tanya Windle won the award going 7-16 with three extra base hits and seven RBI.


BLAZERS RAKE IN POST SEASON AWARDS:
Utah Tech placed three Trailblazers in the WAC post season awards. Hannah Hughbanks and Shea Clements were both named to the First Team while Carly Eldredge was named to the second team.


HUGHBANKS' EARNS WAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Not only was Hannah Hughbanks named to the All-WAC first-team but she was also named to the Defensive Team and was named Defensive Player of the Year. She ended the season with a .993 fielding percentage, helped the Trailblazers to a league high of 17 double plays, and was sixth in the conference in putouts (288) as well as total chances (302).


MOVING UP THE RECORDBOARD
There are several Trailblazers working their way through the teams all-time top-10 lists in various categories.


Senior Hannah Hughbanks holds top 10 spots in doubles (47, 4th), slugging percentage (.614, 7th), batting average (.380, 8th), walks (73 8th), on base percentage (.462, 9th), and one triple shy of 10th (4).


Senior Shea Clements is sitting top 10 in stolen bases (38, 8th) and hit by pitches (11, T-9th).


Senior lefty Ashtyn Bauerle is top 10 in fewest walks per seven innings (2.01, 3rd), starts (30, T-10th), and complete games (12, T-10th).


Senior tight handers Kate Dolinski has top 10 position in saves (3, T-3rd) and fewest walks per seven innings (2.45, 7th).


All Time vs Abilene Christian: This series will be the first time the Trailblazers have taken on Abilene Christian.


Know Your Foe: Abilene Christian comes into the tournament with a 6-20 record including a 2-3 record at home. On the season they have a team batting average of .262 and are led by Mercedes Eichelberger who is hitting .316 with 25 hits including four extra base hits. In the circle the Wildcats have a team ERA of 7.21 led by Talia Nielsen with a 5-75 ERA across 19 games with 11 starts. She is 3-7 with two complete games.