Utah Tech snapped its four-game losing skid and got a strong pitching performance from junior righthander Brett Porthan as the Trailblazers defeated WAC-leading Sam Houston, 7-5, in the first game of a three-game series on Friday night at Bruce Hurst Field.
 
The Trailblazers (9-24/4-9 WAC) led wire-to-wire, thanks in part to a four-run first inning. Lead-off hitter Shane Taylor set the tone for the Blazer offense as he won a nine-pitch battle with Bearkat ace Cole Atkinson (L, 5-2) with an opposite field solo home run to open the UT first.
 
Ethan He and Parker Schmidt followed that with consecutive singles ahead of Chase Rodriguez, who laid down a perfect bunt along the third base line. Atkinson fielded the ball and fired to first base, but only player at the bag was Rodriguez as the ball sailed into foul territory down the right field line.
 
Meanwhile, both He and Schmidt raced around the bases to score, while Rodriguez scampered to third on the throwing error. The junior would then come home six pitches later on a Hank Dodson groundout.
 
Utah Tech would tack on another run on a passed ball in the second, while Porthan managed to limit the high-powered Sam Houston (20-15/12-4 WAC) offense to four hits over his first four innings of work. The Trailblazer defense also helped the cause by turning two double plays behind Porthan in the early going.
 
The Bearkats spoiled a possible shutout bid with a pair of runs in the fifth, however Utah Tech would stretch its lead back to five runs on a Tyson Fisher RBI-double in the home fifth, while Taylor scored on a wild pitch in the sixth.
 
Porthan (W, 4-3) regained his early momentum after that SHSU rally, retiring nine-straight Bearkats before a two-out Joe Redfield homer in the eighth made it a 7-3 game.
 
However things got dicey for Porthan and the Blazers in the ninth as Sam Houston took advantage of two costly Utah Tech errors to load the bases and push across two unearned runs, which spelled the end of the night for Porthan. 
 
Senior reliever Jake Dahle (S, 1) would come on and work around the second of the two Blazer miscues, before finally inducing a Redfield groundout to Zach Thomas at first base to end the game.
 
Porthan came within one out of recording Utah Tech's first complete-game victory in the program's new NCAA Division-I era, and the first complete-game win in four years overall (Jayden Murray vs. UCCS [W, 6-1], 3/16/19). The junior wound up scattering three earned runs (five total) and nine hits with one strikeout to earn his fourth win of the season. 
 
Fisher doubled twice as part of a 3-for-4 effort at the plate, while Taylor extended his career-long hit streak to 14-straight games with his fourth homer of the year as he went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. Schmidt also collected two safeties as Utah Tech outhit Sam Houston 11-9.
 
In addition, Utah Tech held the WAC's leading batter, Bearkat first baseman Tyler Davis, hitless in four at-bats to snap his 20-game hit streak. 
 
The two teams will play the middle game of their three-game conference series on Saturday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m.