Utah Tech Baseball rallied from a seven-run deficit to force extra innings, but ran into some bad tenth-inning luck in falling to Stephen F. Austin, 13-10, in the first game of a three-game WAC series on Friday night at Bruce Hurst Field.  
 
Utah Tech (7-16/2-2 WAC) trailed 8-1 heading into the home fifth after SFA struck for one run in the first, followed by a three-run third, and a four-run fifth inning.
 
Meanwhile the Trailblazers were limited to one hit through four innings, which came on a fourth-inning Tyson Fisher solo home run. However that all changed from the fifth inning on as Utah Tech scored seven-unanswered runs to eventually tie the game at 8-8 after eight complete.
 
UT hit three more home runs in the rally, the first coming on a Chase Rodriguez three-run blast with two outs in the fifth that cut the deficit to 8-4.
 
The Blazers plated two more runs in the sixth, when after a Blake Borgogno two-out double, Parker Schmidt connected for the first of two homers he would hit on the night that trimmed the Lumberjack lead to 8-6.
 
Rodriguez then drew the UT to within a run in the seventh when he drilled the first pitch he saw from SFA reliever Reid Bowyer over the wall in right center for his second long ball of the game. 
 
Utah Tech would later tie the game in the home eighth with a two-out double steal. After Borgogno legged out a two-out infield single that put runners at the corners, the junior infielder stole second, and pinch runner Cayden Clark scampered home carrying the tying run. 
 
Borgogno would then race to third on the play when SFA catcher Sam Adams fired the ball to the bag at second, and neither 'Jack middle infielder broke the base to catch the throw. 
 
However the Blazer base runner would be stranded at third as the game headed to the ninth.
 
After Utah Tech held SFA (9-12/3-4 WAC) off the scoreboard in the top half of the frame, the Blazers had a chance to walk it off in the home ninth with runners at first and second and only one out. SFA reliever Garrett Gearner (W, 3-0) would come on to quell the scoring chance and force extra innings. 
 
In the SFA 10^th, the Lumberjacks loaded the bases with two outs to bring up Scout Sanders, who hit a ball to the outfield for the possible third out. However the ball was misplayed, which allowed all three SFA base runners to score. 
 
SFA would add on two more unearned runs later in the frame en route to a 13-8 lead heading into the Utah Tech 10^th. 
 
Following a one-out Borgogno walk, Schmidt stepped up and drilled a 1-1 Geaner pitch over the left centerfield wall to pull the Blazers to within three. Then after a Mathew Ivancich infield single forced another call to the 'Jack bullpen, SFA reliever Benny Emmons III (S, 1) worked around two two-out errors to extinguish the Blazer threat and end the game.
 
Rodriguez and Schmidt both finished with season highs of four RBI to go with their two homers, while Hank Dodson tied a career-high with three hits as Utah Tech finished with 12 hits.
 
The UT bullpen also stepped up to keep the Blazers in the game as the trio of Jace Carroll, Jacob Taggart and Carsten Herman (L, 2-2) held SFA hitless over four innings. Unfortunately Herman was saddled with the hard-luck loss after the Blazers' third error of the game led to the late SFA runs. 
 
The two teams will play the middle game of their three-game WAC weekend series on Saturday afternoon at 2:05 p.m.