Baseball | 3/18/2024 3:00:00 PM

Utah Tech senior righthander Ryan Hardman was named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week on Monday for his efforts in Utah Tech's home series win over Sacramento State last weekend. 

Hardman picked up saves in both Trailblazer victories, during which he struck out a combined five Hornet batters in 3.0 spotless innings of relief in two appearances. 
 
After he fanned two in a perfect ninth inning in last Friday's 9-7 series-opening win, Hardman collected three more strikeouts in two innings of Sunday's 5-4 series-clinching victory. 
 
Hardman came on with two on and no outs in the top of the eighth inning and put the fire out, striking out two and inducing a fly out to end the threat to preserve Utah Tech's one-run lead. He then went on to pitch a perfect ninth to close out the series win.
 
The senior righthander, who is 2-0 with three saves in eight appearances out of the Trailblazer bullpen this season, moved into eighth place on the program's career saves list with eight. Hardman (137 K) also begins this week two strikeouts shy of vaulting into seventh place on Utah Tech's career strikeout list. 

Utah Tech (5-15/3-3 WAC) wraps up its current homestand with a Tuesday night match-up against in-state rival BYU. First pitch at Bruce Hurst Field is set for 6:05 p.m.