Utah Tech split the middle two games of a Saturday doubleheader with Washington State on Saturday afternoon at Bruce Hurst Field.
 
The Trailblazers saw a ninth-inning rally come up just short in an 8-6 loss in game one, before breaking through for their first victory of the 2024 season with a 7-4 decision in the nightcap.
 
Sophomore southpaw Evan Vasiliou (L, 0-1) shined in the early going of his first collegiate start in game one, retiring nine of the first 11 Cougars he faced through three innings.
 
However WSU (2-1) would strike for a pair of runs in the fourth, the first coming on a one-out Joey Kramer solo home run, followed by a two-out, run-scoring Cole Cramer double.
 
Washington State would tack on single runs in the fifth and sixth stanzas before erupting for four runs in the eighth to extend to a commanding 8-0 lead.
 
Meanwhile Cougar starter Connor Wilford (W, 1-0) scattered six hits in six shutout innings, while reliever Ryan Orr tossed two innings of scoreless relief.
 
The Trailblazer (1-2) bats finally woke up in the ninth when Levi Randall, Cayden Clark and Ethan Royal all reached on pinch-hit singles to start the frame, with Royal's base knock chasing Randall home carrying Utah Tech's first run.
 
Then after a wild pitch advance both remaining runners, Josh Rojas collected his first collegiate RBI on a groundout to make it an 8-2 game.
 
Aaron Perez followed with an opposite field single to drive in Royal, and after a strikeout and a Morgan Albrecht base hit, Brennen Study hammered a 2-0 Liam Miller pitch over the left field wall to pull the Blazers to within two runs.
 
However the rally would end one batter later when Cougar reliever Jacob Gabler (S, 1) got Blake Borgogno to line out to right field to end the game.
 
Utah Tech lost despite outhitting WSU 12-11. Perez accounted for three of those hits to go with his RBI and one run scored, while Study went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
 
Vasiliou pitched into the fifth, allowing three runs on four hits with two strikeouts.
 
Washington State looked as if it had quelled whatever momentum the Blazers may have carried into the nightcap after the Cougars plated two first-inning runs.
 
Utah Tech got those runs right back in the home first when after a Hank Dodson two-out walk, Hunter Katschke hit a towering shot down the left field line and over the wall to draw the Blazers even at 2-2.
 
WSU jumped back on top with an Alan Shibley lead-off homer in the third, but the Trailblazers answered with five unanswered runs over the next six innings en route to a 7-3 advantage heading to the ninth.
 
Ethan He tied the game with a two-out single in the fourth, then Dodson gave his side just its second lead of the series with a solo homer to left in the sixth.
 
Petey Soto Jr. would tack on another run in the sixth on a run-scoring groundout, while the Blazers plated a run on a wild pitch in the seventh, and Perez hit his first homer as a Trailblazer with an opposite-field shot to left in the eighth.
 
Meanwhile, junior lefthander Carston Herman (ND) limited the Cougars to just one hit and two base runners over his final two innings of work. Senior reliever Ryan Hardman (W, 1-0) struck out five, and he and the Blazer defense held WSU to one run and two hits from the sixth inning on to close out the win. 
 
Katschke finished a triple shy of the cycle as he went 3-for-4 with three runs scored to lead a seven-hit Utah Tech attack. 
 
Utah Tech will play for a split of its season-opening four game series with the Cougars in Sunday's final beginning at 12:05 p.m.