Game Times (Mountain):
Friday - 6:05 p.m.
Saturday - 2:05 p.m.
Sunday - 12:05 p.m.
Game Notes: UTAH TECH - PDF | SHSU
Live Streaming: WAC INTERNATIONAL
Live Stats: vs. SHSU
Twitter: @UtahTech_Sports | @UtahTechMBB | #UtahTechBlazers | #WACmbb | #WAChoops | #WACvegas

PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – RHP #18 Brett Porthan (3-3, 6.45 ERA) vs. RHP #36 Coltin Atkinson (5-1, 3.37 ERA)
Saturday (G2) – LHP #6 Carsten Herman (2-3, 7.45 ERA) vs. LHP #26 Steven Beard (3-2, 4.53 ERA)
Sunday (G3) – RHP #45 Carson Angeroth (2-0, 3.42 ERA) vs. LHP #14 Gavi Coldiron (1-2, 7.58 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: Utah Tech (8-24/3-9 WAC) returns to Bruce Hurst Field this weekend for a three-game series vs. WAC-leading Sam Houston (20-14/12-3 WAC). Friday's series opener will begin at 6:05 p.m., followed by game two on Saturday at 2:05 p.m., and Sunday's series finale at 12:05 p.m.
 

HI MY NAME IS...: The Trailblazers began the 2023 season with a new institutional name - Utah Tech University. 
    This past July 1, the university re-branded to the new moniker, replacing "Dixie State University," while the "Trailblazers" nickname remained in place.

ALL-TIME SERIES: This weekend's series will be the first-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Bearkats on the diamond.

UTAH TECH ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB: All Utah Tech home games, along with all WAC away games, this season will be streamed live online on either WAC International (wacinternational.tv) or ESPN+ (plus.espn.com).

COACHING STAFF: Two-time Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year Chris Pfatenhauer is in his 11th season as head coach of the Utah Tech Baseball program. During his tenure in the UT 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 300th victory as UT skipper in the 2022 season finale at California Baptist (14-8; 5/21/2022), owns a 308-217-1 (.586) overall record at Utah Tech, and a 360-276-1 (.566) career mark. 
    Joining Pfatenhauer (UNLV, 2000) in the Trailblazer dugout this season is first-year pitching coach Justin Hixson (Cal State San Bernardino, 2006), along with ninth-year assistant coaches Bobby Rinard (Arizona, 2014) and Matt Hill (Utah Tech 2015). 

LAST TIME OUT: Utah Tech fell for the 10th time in its last 11 games overall after dropping a hard-fought 8-5 decision at in-state rival BYU this past Tuesday night in Provo. 

TRAILBLAZERS VOTED EIGHTH IN WAC PRESEASON POLL: Utah Tech was picked to finish eighth in the Western Athletic Conference as the league office announced its 2023 baseball preseason poll on Feb. 9. 
    Grand Canyon received 10 first-place votes and 141 voting points to top the 2023 preseason coaches poll. Sam Houston received the final three first-place votes to finish second with 131 points, while California Baptist collected 115 points to claim the third spot. 
    A log jam makes up the next three spots as Abilene Christian (100 pts), UTRGV (100 pts) and Sacramento State (100 pts) all tied for fourth place. Meanwhile defending WAC tournament champion New Mexico State (88 pts) wound up seventh, with Utah Tech (54 pts), WAC newcomer UT Arlington (47 pts) and Tarleton (40 pts) rounding out the top 10.
    Utah Tech also enters the upcoming season eligible to compete at the 2023 WAC Baseball Championship Tournament, which will be held May 24-28 at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.

HOME SWEET HOME: Utah Tech has played to a 304-133 (.695) overall record in 437 games played inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field since the start of its four-year era in the 2007 season.
    The Trailblazers are off to an uncharacteristic 7-12 start at home this season, which includes a 2-4 mark in WAC play. However Utah Tech did collect its 300th NCAA-era home victory in their 12-4 series-opening win over Wichita State back on Feb. 22. 
    Utah Tech started the 2022 season winners of seven of its first 10 home games, but when the calendar turned to April, that record flipped to 4-8, though the Blazers did manage to salvage the home finale vs. Utah (W, 9-4; 5/11/22) to even their home mark at 11-11 for the year. 
    UT has posted a winning home record in 15 of 16 seasons since transitioning to NCAA status in 2007, and has won 20 or more home games in eight of those 16 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 in 2016 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: Despite the 1-12 road start to the 2023 season, Utah Tech has held its own away from home as the Trailblazers have played to a 169-188-1 overall road record (.473) in its four-year era, which included an 11-22 road mark last season, though they did end the year winning three of their final four road dates. 
    UT had posted a winning road record in eight of their last 13 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, Utah Tech went a program-best 15-5 on the road (.750), and UT has won at least 10 road games in nine of its last 10 seasons overall. When you also figure in neutral-site games (14-11 in 25 games), Utah Tech is 183-199-1 (.479) all-time away from Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era.

JUST WIN BABY: Utah Tech did something last year that it had not done in its entire NCAA era - post consecutive sub-.500 season records. UT ended its first NCAA D-I season in 2021 with a 24-32 overall record, which was followed by last year's 22-33 mark.
    Prior to the 2021 campaign, Utah Tech had played to a winning record in 13 of its previous 14 seasons, with the lone exception coming in 2018, when the Trailblazers came away with an even 25-25 mark. In fact, Utah Tech has reached the 30-win plateau 10 times in 16 seasons of NCAA play overall, which included nine-straight seasons from 2009 to 2017.
    Utah Tech 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: Utah Tech picked up its 400th win in the program's NCAA era in the series opener vs. UCCS (6-1) on March 16, 2019. UT is currently 487-332-1 (.594) all-time through 16-plus years of NCAA competition (820 games). 

BEST IN STATE?: Utah Tech got the in-state portion of its 2023 schedule off on the right foot with a 10-9 walk-off victory over BYU in the final game of its 13-game, season-opening homestand this past March 7. However the Cougars countered with an 8-5 home win of their own in the return game last Tuesday night in Provo.
    The Blazers' home win did not look like it was in the offing after the Cougars struck for six first inning runs. However Utah Tech matched BYU with six runs of its own in the home first, then kept pace with the Cougars until the bottom of the ninth, when with two outs in the bottom of the ninth Sean Keating singled home the winning run.
    That win also marked the second time in three seasons that Utah Tech had walked off BYU at Bruce Hurst Field (5-4; 3/16/21).
    Utah Tech finished the in-state portion of its 2022 slate with an even 5-5 record, splitting all three series against the other three Utah D-I schools (BYU 1-1; Utah 1-1; Utah Valley 3-3). 
    In UT's D-I debut season in 2021, the Trailblazers posted a combined 6-2 mark against their in-state foes, going 4-0 vs. fellow WAC member UVU, along with home-at-home splits vs. both BYU and Utah.

FREE BASEBALL: After not playing an extra inning game in two full seasons in 2019 and 2020, Utah Tech has played in 12 extra inning affairs since its move to Division I, all of which have come over the Blazers' 109 games, including three this season - all at home.
    Unfortunately for the Trailblazers, they came out on the short end of all three of those games, two of which came last weekend vs. SFA. UT also fell in 10 innings in game two vs Wichita State last month (L, 3-5; 2/24).
    The Trailblazers are currently 4-8 in extra inning games during their D-I transition, and 35-23 (.603) overall in 58 total extra-inning games in the program's four-year era. UT is 17-13 in 10-inning games, and the program has won nine of its last 19 extra inning games overall. 

THE FISHER (HR) KING: Senior Tyson Fisher became Utah Tech's career home run leader in the series finale vs. Portland (2/19) with the first of his two two-run homers he connected on as part of a 3-for-4 day with five RBI. 
    Fisher moved past his former teammate Jake Engel (2017-21), who hit 32 home runs during his storied All-American career.
    Fisher launched his record-breaking 33rd career HR on a 1-0 pitch in the bottom of the third, then struck for his second long ball one inning later on a 2-1 offering. The senior's two-homer game was the third of his career - all of which have come over the past two seasons. Fisher went yard twice in a road win at Sacramento State early last season (3/12/22), then repeated the feat nearly two months later at home vs. NM State (5/1/22).

FISHER ON A POWER SURGE: Dating back to last year, Fisher has been on quite the home run tear, having gone big fly in nine of his last 35 games, including five games this season. He connected for his team-leading sixth homer of the season, and the 38th of his career, in game two at CBU (4/1), which was his fourth long ball in his last five starts overall at the Lancers' home park. 
    Last year he became the first player in the program's NCAA era to hit home runs in four-straight games, doing so in each of Utah Tech's final four games, highlighted by homers in all three games in that season-finale series at CBU.
    Fisher batted .357 (5-for-14) over those final four starts with seven RBI and six runs scored to finish the year with a .302 average along with 11 homers, 22 total XBH, and 33 RBI. In addition, he hit safely in 20 of his final 23 games and batted .372 (32-for-86) over that stretch.
    The senior OF is also one of seven Trailblazers in UT's four-year era to hit homers in three-straight games, and is the second player to do it twice. In addition to last year's feat, Fisher posted a three-game streak late in the 2021 season (5/16-21), while former outfielder Tyson Littlewood did it in both the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Engel added his name to the list in 2019, joining fellow All-American Brett Adams (2010) along with former Blazers Kevin Cline(2013), Mark Rose (2008) and Frans Meyer (2008). 

FISHING FOR MORE HISTORY: Now that he sits atop the career HR list with 38 and counting, Fisher has several more career records in sight as he continues through his final season. His team-leading 21 RBI this season leaves him needing only 13 more to pass both Engel (147) and Adams (147) become UT's career RBI leader (fourth with 135).
    In addition, he stands second in total bases (347), fourth in at bats (631), fifth in triples (6) and runs (137), sixth in SLG% (.550), doubles (35) and stolen bases (24), and seventh in hits (186).

LEADING THE HURD: After missing the last two-plus weeks due to injury, freshman OF Bryker Hurdsman made his return to the starting line-up last weekend at UT-Arlington. 
    The freshman looked as if he would pick up right where he left off after he clubbed a ground-rule double in his first plate appearance in game one, but he was held hitless over his final eight ABs the rest of the series.
    However he did bounce back at BYU on Tuesday night to hit his third homer of the year, which got the Blazers on scoreboard in the second inning.
    Hurdsman has made an impact through his first 25 games played, and despite missing those seven games, he is still second on the team in batting (.299), runs scored (19) and doubles (8), and is third in RBI (16), and slugging percentage (.519). 
    Hurdsman has hit safely in 16 games this season, including nine of his last 13 overall, with five two-hit games and a 3-for-4 day with a double and an RBI in game three of the Oklahoma State series (3/11). He also homered and drove in a career-high four runs in UT's series opening win vs. Wichita State (2/22).  

STARTING AT THE TOP: Junior 3B Shane Taylor enters this weekend's series on quite the heater, having hit safely in a career-high 13-straight games.
    Taylor batted .384 (5-for-13) in the UTA series last weekend with three XBHs, highlighted by UT's first inside-the-park home run in the program's new Division-I era, which came in the series opener (4/6) as part of a three-RBI night. The junior also doubled and tripled in game two, and finished the series with four RBI, three walks and three runs scored. 
    Taylor is batting .404 (19-for-47) over his hit streak with nine XBH, nine RBI, 13 runs, and 13 walks out of the lead-off spot. He currently stands in second in the WAC in walks with 29, including 11 free passes over his last nine games, three of which came last weekend at UTA. 
    In fact, Taylor's (102 BB) first of two walks he drew in the opener at UTA made history as he became just the second Blazer in program history to draw at least 100 career walks (126, Yuto Kata; 2012-16). 

RACING AROUND THE BASES: Taylor's inside-the-park homer at UTA on April 6 was the second in Coach Pfatenhauer's tenure as Utah Tech skipper. Coincidentally, the first inside-the-park HR was also legged out by a Trailblazer 3B - Yuto Kata - who did at Bruce Hurst Field nearly nine years ago to the day (4/19/14) in UT's 11-0 home win over Cal State LA.  

TRAILBLAZER QUICK HITS
* - After getting off to a slow start, junior CF Chase Rodriguez has flipped the switch, batting .311 (19-of-61) over his last 23 games, including a .400 clip (4-for-10) in the SFA series, highlighted by his first collegiate two-HR game with four RBI in the series opener (3/24).
* - Not to be outdone, junior C/OF Parker Schmidt also homered twice and drove in four runs in the SFA series opener (3/24) ... Schmidt has hit safely in five-straight games, and connected for his fourth homer of the year as part of a 3-for-4 day with two walks and three runs in the finale at UTA last Saturday. 
* - Junior catcher Hank Dodson has also been on a tear of late, having hit safely in six-straight and in eight of his last 10 outings overall, and has reached base safely in 10-straight games ... the junior backstop batted an even .400 (4-for-10) in the UTA series, including belting his first, and third-career, home run in the series finale. 
* - Sophomore SS Ethan He is swinging a hot bat, having homered in each of UT's last two games with five combined RBI ... He went 2-for-5 with his second HR of the season, two RBI and two runs scored in the finale at UTA, then followed that up with a homer and three more RBI as part of a 2-for-4 night at BYU last Tuesday. 
* - He is also riding a 10-game on-base streak and has collected base hits in six of those games.
* - After only hitting one road HR through its first five road games, Utah Tech went yard eight times during its just completed seven-game road swing ... The Trailblazers hit four homers in the UTA series, including three in the series finale, and hit two more at BYU last Tuesday night. 
* - Prior to the CBU road series (3/31-4/2), senior 1B Sean Keating had accounted for Blazers' lone road HR, which came in game three at Oklahoma State (3/11). 
* - Keating had himself a day in the series opener vs. Wichita State (2/22) when he became the second Trailblazer in the program's new D-I era to hit three home runs in one game ... Keating also drove in a career-high six runs in the win.
* - Keating joined former UT All-American Jake Engel on that exclusive list, which he established after he went yard three times at San Diego State (4/24/21) during the 2021 season.
* - Keating also became the second Trailblazer this season to hit homers in consecutive plate appearances, joining Fisher on the list, who did it in the series finale vs. Portland (2/19), while Rodriguez became the third player to do it in last Friday's series opener vs. SFA.
* - In fact, Utah Tech went back-to-back-to-back with the long ball in the third inning of G1 vs. Wichita as Hurdsman-Keating-Fisher all homered within four pitches of each other off of two different Shocker pitchers.
* - Utah Tech's three-consecutive home runs also marked the first time that occurred in the program's D-I transition ... the last time the Trailblazers hit three home runs in one inning came during the 2019 season in a 28-9 road rout of Adams State (3/10/19).
* - Junior RHP Brett Porthan enjoyed his best outing of the season in the series opener vs. NM State, against which he struck out a career-high eight and scattered two runs (one earned) and five hits over 7.0 solid innings en route to his third win of the season.
* - Porthan moved into solo fourth on UT's career starts with No. 29 in the series opener at UTA ... the junior also stands in sixth all-time in IP (163.1) and is ninth on UT's career strikeout (120) list. 
* - Sophomore southpaw Carsten Herman had himself quite the series vs. NM State as he collected his first two collegiate saves ... Herman combined to hurl 3.1 scoreless innings in the two appearances, striking out five while allowing only one hit.  
* - Herman, who is slated to start G2 vs. SHSU Saturday, got the starting nod in G2 at CBU (4/1) and responded by striking out five in 5.1 innings of work, though he did not figure in the decision ... his 5.1 IP were also a career high, while his five Ks were one off of his career high of six set last month at Oklahoma State (3/12).
* - Junior RHP Carson Angeroth picked up his second victory of the season in series finale at CBU (4/2), against which he fanned a career-high five and surrendered only one run and seven hits in 5.0 IP.
* - Angeroth earned his first decision of the season in the series finale vs. NMSU (3/19) after he fired 3.2 innings of one-hit shutout baseball in relief with three strikeouts.
* - Speaking of strong bullpen work, the trio of freshmen Dakoda West (2 Ks) and Evan Vasiliou (2 Ks), and sophomore Jacob Taggart (5 Ks) combined to record nine more strikeouts in relief of Angeroth and limited CBU to just two hits over the final four innings to help the Trailblazers salvage the series finale.
* - The 14 strikeouts in the finale at CBU were a Utah Tech WAC season high and one off of UT's overall season high of 15 set vs. South Dakota State (3/4/23) ... in all, Utah Tech pitching has recorded 10 or more strikeouts 10 times this season. 
* - Senior LHP Ben Hart has made a staff-high 13 relief appearances through 32 games this season to rise to second all-time in program history in games pitched at 63 ... Hart also became the 13th pitcher (and third this season) to record at least 100 career strikeouts in UT's NCAA era with his 15th punch-out of the season in his one inning of work at BYU last Tuesday. 

ABOUT THE SAM HOUSTON "BEARKATS": Sam Houston travels to St. George having won seven of its last 11 games, including three-straight WAC series wins overall.
    The Bearkat offense boasts two of the top-four hitters in the WAC, led by graduate infielder Tyler Davis, who leads the conference with a .472 average to go with 12 XBHs and a co-team high 29 RBI. Davis is currently riding a 20-game hit streak and has hit safely in 28 of 33 games played this season.
    Meanwhile, junior OF Joe Redfield has hit in nine-straight games and is batting at a .419 clip with a team-best six homers and 29 RBI. 
    Friday's game one starter, junior RHP Coltin Atkinson (5-1, 3.37 ERA) is the staff ace and has fanned 36 in 42.2 IP. 
    As a team, SHSU leads the WAC in hits (363; 10.6 hpg), runs scored (246; 7.2 rpg) and RBI (227), and is second in the conference in batting (.307) and stolen bases (53-of-65).  
    In addition, the Bearkat pitching staff owns a 5.58 team ERA and has struck out 285 in 297.0 IP. 

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Utah Tech heads back out on the road for a non-conference date at Utah Valley this Monday night in Orem. First pitch is slated for 6:05 p.m.