Sophomore lefthander Evan Vasiliou struck out a career-high six, while Hunter Katschke and Petey Soto Jr. each drove in two runs, as Utah Tech snapped its nine-game losing skid with a thrilling 9-8 victory at Oklahoma State on Tuesday afternoon at O'Brate Stadium.
 
The victory was the Trailblazer program's sixth over a Power-5 conference school during its current NCAA Division-I transition. 
 
Utah Tech (2-11) led wire-to-wire, jumping out to a quick 1-0 advantage just four pitches in when freshman Kyle McDaniel lined an Aaron Weber (L, 1-1) offering over the right field wall for his first collegiate home run, and the Trailblazers' first lead-off homer of the season. 
 
The Trailblazers struck for three more runs in the third, taking advantage of four Cowboy walks and two wild pitches. Katschke provided the lone hit in the frame with a run-scoring single with one out and would later score on a wild pitch, while Soto Jr. collected his first RBI of the day with a two-out free pass.
 
Oklahoma State (7-5) clapped back with two runs in the home third, but Utah Tech managed to get those runs back thanks to a Katschke sacrifice fly in the fourth, and a Brennen Study RBI-single with two outs in the fifth.
 
Meanwhile Vasiliou (W, 1-2) retired seven the first nine Cowboy hitters he faced and limited OSU to eight hits and those two third-inning runs over his 5.2 innings of work. 
 
Utah Tech tacked on two more runs in the seventh, the first came on a Soto Jr. double down the third base line. The Cowboy defense gifted the Trailblazers the second run when an errant throw on a possible inning-ending double play ball allowed the freshman shortstop to score from second base to make it an 8-2 game. 
 
After OSU cut the deficit in half with a Tyler Wulfert three-run homer with two outs in the home seventh, Blake Borgogno came up with a clutch two-out hit in the eighth, which allowed Chase Rodriguez to scamper home from second base carrying a big insurance run.
 
That run turned out to be the difference as the Cowboys again came up with three two-out runs in their half of the stanza, with the big blow coming on a two-run Colin Brueggemann blast over the left field wall.
 
However that would be all Oklahoma State would get as senior reliever Ryan Hardman (S, 1) got the final out in the eighth, and retired the Cowboys in order with two strikeouts in the ninth to close out the hard-fought victory. 
 
Utah Tech pounded out 11 hits on the day, with Hank Dodson accounting for three of those safeties including a double. Meanwhile McDaniel and Katschke each rapped out two hits as the top four in the Trailblazer line-up went a combined 8-for-6 at the plate with three RBI and five runs scored. 
 
Utah Tech will look to sweep the brief two-game series with OSU on Wednesday afternoon beginning at 4 p.m. (CT).