Game Times (Mountain):
Friday - 6:05 p.m.
Saturday - 2:05 p.m.
Sunday - 11:05 a.m.
Game Notes: UTAH TECH - PDF | TARLETON STATE - PDF
Live Streaming: GAME #1 - WACINT | GAME #2 - WACINT | GAME #3 - WACINT
Live Stats: GAME #1 | GAME #2 | GAME #3
Twitter: @UtahTech_Sports | @UtahTech_BASE | #UtahTechBlazers | #WACbsb

PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – RHP #34 Ky Decker (1-4, 7.90 ERA) vs. RHP #24 Piercen McElyea (2-0, 4.76 ERA)
Saturday (G2) – LHP #24 Evan Vasiliou (2-4, 8.33 ERA) vs. LHP #47 Matt Haley (2-4, 4.99 ERA)
Sunday (G3) – RHP #40 Dylan Gardner (0-5, 8.80 ERA) vs. TBA

FIRST PITCH: Utah Tech (8-24/6-9 WAC) begins a stretch that will see the team play eight of its next 12 games at home, starting with a three-game WAC series vs. Tarleton State (18-14/8-7 WAC) this weekend at Bruce Hurst Field (2,500)
            Friday's series opener is set to start 6:05 p.m. (MT), followed by game two on Saturday at 2:05 p.m. (MT), and Sunday's finale at 11:05 a.m. (MT).
 
UTAH TECH VS. TARLETON: Utah Tech is 3-1 all-time against Tarleton State, though the two sides have not squared off since the 2021 season, which was the first NCAA Division I season and first year of WAC play for both programs.
            That year the Trailblazers took three-of-four on the road in Stephenville, when after dropping the series opener in extra innings, 10-9 (4/1), Utah Tech roared back to win the next three, highlighted by a 5-1 no-hitter thrown by former Blazer Jimmy Borzone in game two (4/2). 
            Utah Tech went on to claim game three, 7-4 (4/2), and clinched the series victory with a 13-9 decision (4/3) in the finale.
 
UTAH TECH ON THE 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 12th 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 321-256-1 (.556) overall record at Utah Tech, and a 373-315-1 (.542) career mark. 
            Joining Pfatenhauer (UNLV, 2000) in the Trailblazer dugout this season is associate head coach Bobby Rinard (Arizona, 2014), who is in his 10th season on coaching staff overall, along with first-year pitching coach Daniel Stange (UC Riverside, 2015), and former Trailblazer Braxton Ipson (Utah Tech 2020), who moved into an assistant coach role after serving as director of baseball operations last season. 
 
LAST TIME OUT: Utah Tech went winless on its just completed five-game road swing, which included a tough three-game WAC road sweep at Utah Valley last weekend, which was followed by two non-conference losses at UNLV this past Tuesday and Wednesday in Las Vegas.
 
TRAILBLAZERS VOTED 11TH IN WAC PRESEASON POLL:Utah Tech was picked to finish 11th in the Western Athletic Conference as the league office announced its 2024 baseball preseason poll on Feb. 6. 
            Grand Canyon received nine first-place votes and 99 voting points to top the 2024 preseason coaches poll. Utah Valley (75 pts) and California Baptist (74 pts) each split the final two first-place votes to finish second and third in the poll, respectively.
            Abilene Christian (70 pts) wound up being selected fourth, followed by UT Arlington (68) in fifth, UTRGV (59 pts) in sixth, Sacramento State (54 pts) in seventh, Seattle U (39 pts) in eighth, Tarleton State (34 pts) in ninth, Stephen F. Austin (19 pts) in 10th and Utah Tech (16 pts) in 11th. 
            The top eight teams in the conference standings will advance on to the 2024 WAC Baseball Championship Tournament, which will be held May 22-26 at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.
 
PLENTY OF BUZZ: Though no Utah Tech player was voted to the WAC's preseason all-conference team, several Trailblazers are generating plenty of preseason buzz.
            Freshman SS Petey Soto Jr. was named to the Perfect Game all-WAC preseason team and was the publication's pick for Freshman of the Year.
            In addition, Perfect Game has listed three Blazers in its top-10 2024 Major League Baseball Draft prospects list, including junior LHP Justin Woodbury (#4), and a pair of newcomers in junior 1B Aaron Perez (#3) and RHP Dylan Gardner (#5).
            Meanwhile, Perfect Game has sophomore outfielder Karson Irvin listed as the fourth-best prospect on its 2025 Draft list, and Soto Jr. made it on the 2026 Draft list. 
 
HOME SWEET HOME: Utah Tech has played to a 310-150 (.674) overall record in 460 games played inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field since the start of its four-year era in the 2007 season.
            The Trailblazers have posted a winning home record in 15 of 17 seasons since transitioning to NCAA status in 2007, which includes an 11-11 at home in 2022. 
            Utah Tech had 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 4-13 start to the road portion of the 2024 schedule, and a 2-21 road mark last year, Utah Tech has managed to hold its own away from home in its NCAA era as the Trailblazers have played to a 175-210-1 overall road record (.454).
            Utah Tech had posted a winning road record in eight of their last 14 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 11 seasons overall. When you also figure in neutral-site games (15-11 in 26 games), Utah Tech is 190-216-1 (.468) all-time away from Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era.
 
ON TO THE NEXT 500: Utah Tech collected its 500th NCAA-era victory in its 12-5 series finale triumph vs. UTRGV on March 30. 
            Utah Tech is currently 500-371-1 (.574) all-time through 17-plus years of NCAA competition (872 games). 
 
FINAL D-I TRANSITION SEASON: Utah Tech is currently in its fourth and final season of its transition to NCAA Division-I status. The Trailblazers have played to a 67-127 (.345) overall record during their transition, which includes a 49-62 (.451) mark in WAC play.  
 
6W vs. P5: Six of Utah Tech's 67 D-I wins have come against Power-5 programs, including its win at Oklahoma State (3/5), which was the program's first vs. the Big XII Conference. The Trailblazers have also racked up five wins against the PAC-12 Conference (2 vs. Utah; 1 vs. Arizona/Arizona State/Washington State). 
 
FREE BASEBALL: After not playing an extra inning game in two full seasons in 2019 and 2020, Utah Tech has played in 13 extra inning affairs since its move to Division I.  
            The Trailblazers are currently 4-9 in extra inning games during their D-I transition, and 35-24 (.593) overall in 59 total extra-inning games in the program's four-year era. Utah Tech is 17-13 in 10-inning games, and the program has won nine of its last 20 extra inning games overall.
 
TRAILBLAZER QUICK HITS 
* - Though Utah Tech was held to just a .150 average at UVU last weekend, senior catcher Hank Dodson was one of the bright spots as he batted .375 (3-for-8) with a pair of doubles and one RBi over the three games. 
* - Dodson enters the weekend with a four-game hit streak and has legged out four of his team-high 10 doubles over his last four starts ... Dodson co-leads the Trailblazer everyday players with a .330 average with a team-best 14 XBH, along with 15 RBI and 15 run scored in 31 starts. 
* - Dodson, who is hitting at a .367 clip in WAC play, batted .333 (5-for-15) in the Seattle series, and hit .462 (6-for-13) in three starts vs. Sacramento State, with two hits in each start, all while collecting two RBI and two stolen bases over the three games.
* - Junior RF/DH Hunter Katschke (.330/.585/.392) is on a tear of late, having hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games and is batting .407 (22-for-54) over this stretch with seven XBHs.
* - Katschke saw his, and Utah Tech's team-high, 13-game hit streak stopped in last Sunday's series finale at UVU, but he came back with base hits in both games at UNLV, including an RBI-double in game one.
* - Katschke, who is batting .375 against WAC pitching, feasted on UTRGV pitching in Utah Tech's last homestand to the tune of a .538 average (7-for-13) with five RBI and five runs scored ... he went 4-for-5 with a homer and four RBI in the series opener, then homered as part of a two-hit day in game two ... his four hits and four RBI in G1 were both season highs.
* - Katschke hit .385 in three starts at Seattle U (5-for-13) with four RBI and three runs scored ... he drove in at least one run in all three games, including a pair runs in the game two win. 
* - Katschke got his hit streak rolling in the Sac State series, during which he batted an even .500 (5-for-10) with a double, two HRs, three RBI and four runs scored ... the junior homered in both Blazer wins, including a two-run shot in G1 ... he also drew a career-best three walks in G2 and finished with a .615 OB% in the series.
* - Katschke has hit safely in 23 of his first 31 games as a Trailblazer and is the team leader in both HRs (7) and RBI (22).
* - Junior 1B Aaron Perez (.274/.377/.339) hit safely in 13 of his 16 March starts, and in 21 of his first 29 games in a Trailblazer uniform overall. 
*  Perez batted an even .300 (3-for-10) in the UTRGV series, with all three hits coming in the finale, during which he doubled twice with two RBI ... he also drove in a Utah Tech career-best three runs in the BYU loss (3/19).
* - Perez went 2-for-3 in game one at UNLV on Tuesday night with a double and a walk. 
* - Junior INF/UT Brennen Study (.286/.393/.385) started both games at UNLV and responded by batting .375 (3-for-8).
* - Study, who has hit safely in four of his last five outings, was penciled into the starting line-up for the final two games of the UTRGV series and responded by going a combined 5-for-8 (.625) with a pair of doubles and two runs scored ... Study legged out both doubles in G2, which he chased with his first three-hit game of the year in the finale. 
* - Freshman 3B Kyle McDaniel (.237/.342/.348) has hit safely in eight of his last 11 starts, which included all three games in the UTRGV series, during which he batted .462 (6-for-13) with two doubles and four runs scored ... McDaniel collected both doubles as part of his first collegiate three-hit day in the series finale.
* - Junior INF Ethan He (.246/.333/.306) recorded his fifth career three-hit game in the series opener at UNLV ... He wound up batting an even .500 (4-for-8) in the two-game set with an RBI and a team-high three runs scored.
* - Sophomore OF Levi Randall (.435/.438/.471) recorded his first collegiate two-hit game and drove in his first career run in Wednesday's finale at UNLV ... Randall has collected at least one hit in six of the 10 games he has appeared in this season. 
* - Freshman LF Ethan Royal (.262/.328/.366) has his safely in five of his last seven starts, and tied a career-high with two RBI in Tuesday's loss at UNLV. 
 
ABOUT THE TARLETON STATE "TEXANS": Tarleton State makes the long trek to St. George having won three-straight and six of its last eight games, including a three-game home WAC sweep of Seattle U last weekend in Stephenville. 
            Sophomore OF Tyson Drake is the Texans' top hitter with a .321 average with a team-highs of seven home runs and 39 runs scored to go with 24 RBI. Meanwhile senior INF Cris Enriquez has driven in a team-best 28 runs and owns a .302 average with nine XBHs. 
            As a team, Tarleton is hitting at a .274 clip and averages 6.3 runs and 9.0 hits a game, while the Texans' pitching staff owns a 5.71 team ERA and has struck out 216 in 276.0 IP. 
 
NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Utah Tech will head back out on the road for four games next week, beginning with a quick trip up Interstate 15 to Provo for a Monday night match-up at in-state rival BYU. First pitch at Miller Park is slated for 6:05 p.m. (MT).