Behind three
Hunter Katschke home runs, and two more off the bat of
Hank Dodson, Utah Tech baseball powered past PAC-12 foe Utah, 11-8, on Tuesday afternoon at Bruce Hurst Field.
The two teams provided quite the fireworks show to begin the in-state showdown, with the Utes (30-16) plating two quick first-inning runs on three consecutive lead-off doubles.
The Trailblazers (12-36) clapped right back in their first swings of day, when after a
Kyle McDaniel lead-off walk, Katschke ambushed the first pitch he saw from Utah starter Jaden Harris (L, 4-1) and sent it well over the hitter's eye in center field to tie the game at 2-2.
Aaron Perez then stepped to the plate and drilled Harris' next pitch over the wall in left center for an opposite field homer, his third of the season, to spot the Blazers a 3-2 lead.
Katschke would strike again in the third, homering to straight-away center field for the second-straight plate appearance against Harris. Then with two outs in the frame, Dodson drove a 1-1 Harris offering well over the wall in left to push the Utah Tech lead to 5-2.
Junior reliever
Matt Nelson (W, 2-1), who came on in the second inning, made those early runs stand as he struck out five and hurled four innings of one hit relief.
Sophomore righthander
Dakoda West followed suit in the sixth as he retired the Utes in order on just 10 pitches.
Utah Tech tacked on two more runs in the sixth thanks to two-run
Garrett Cutting single, which was followed one inning later with Katschke's third homer of the day, a two-run opposite blast to right that extended the Blazer lead to 9-2.
The Utes got up off the deck in the eighth, sending 10 batters to the plate as part of a four-run, three-hit rally that trimmed the deficit to 9-6.
Utah Tech managed to get two of those runs back in the home eighth, which got off to a bang with Dodson's second homer of the day, a towering solo shot to left on a 3-2 pitch off his former batterymate turned Utah reliever
Brett Porthan.
Petey Soto Jr. then made it an 11-6 game later in the frame thanks to a clutch two-out single up the middle that chased home
Chase Rodriguez from second base.
Those two insurance runs proved to be huge as Utah again pulled to within three after a two-out TJ Clarkson home run. Then after another Ute batter reached on a walk, Blazer reliever
Dylan Gardner was able to induce a Michael Davinni groundout to end the game.
Katschke, who padded his team lead in both homers (12) and RBI (32) during his banner day, drove in a season-high five runs, all while becoming the third Trailblazer in the program's brief NCAA Division I era to homer three times in one game.
Former Utah Tech All-American Jake Engel was the first to do it during the 2021 season in a game at San Diego State (4/24/21), while former Blazer infielder
Sean Keating achieved the feat last season in a home win over Wichita State (2/22/23).
Meanwhile Dodson posted his second two-homer game of the season, and of his career, going went 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored. Dodson also left the yard twice in a home win earlier this season vs. UTRGV (3/30/24).
Utah Tech pounded out 14 hits on the afternoon, with Perez, Cutting and Rodriguez all collecting two hits apiece.
The Trailblazers head back on the road for a four-game, non-conference series at Cal Poly this weekend in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
