Utah Tech split the middle two games of its 2025 season-opening series with Northern Colorado in a Saturday doubleheader at Bruce Hurst Field.
 
The Trailblazers saw a ninth-inning rally come up just short in an 9-8 loss in game one, only to bounce back with another late-inning rally to clinch the split with a 5-4 triumph in the nightcap.
 
Utah Tech (2-1) found itself in a 5-0 after UNC took advantage of six first-inning walks to begin the day. 
 
The Blazers managed to get one of those runs back in the second on a Kyle McDaniel RBI-single, before erupting for six runs on the home fifth to bolt out to a 7-5 advantage.
 
Petey Soto Jr. led off the frame with a single to left field, then after walks to Gavin Long and Hunter Katschke loaded the bases with one out, Aaron Perez unloaded them with a towering grand slam over the right center field wall to tie the game at 5-5.
 
Finnegan Stewart drew a five-pitch walk one batter later, which forced UNC to make a pitching change. McDaniel then stepped up and greeted Bear reliever Hunter Gibson with his first home run of the season over wall in right field wall to give Utah Tech its first lead of the game.
 
Unfortunately the Trailblazer lead did not last long as Northern Colorado (1-2) clapped back with four runs of its own one inning later to jump back on top at 9-7.
 
Utah Tech had chances to tie or possibly take the lead in both the seventh and eighth innings, but the Blazers stranded two baserunners in each of those stanzas.
 
Utah Tech mounted one more charge in the ninth, which started with a one-out Stewart walk and a McDaniel double. 
 
With the Blazers down to their final out, pinch hitter Grady Daniels hit a hot shot to UNC shortstop Brandon Sanchez, who could not to come up with the ball cleanly, which allowed Stewart to score and pinch runner Ethan Royal to advance to third.
 
However Sanchez recovered and fired the ball behind Royal to third base, where he was tagged out before he could retreat back to the bag. 
 
McDaniel, who went 4-for-4 in Friday's season-opening win, collected three more hits and drove in three runs in Saturday's first game. Meanwhile Perez went 3-for-4 with four RBI and two runs, and Soto Jr. finished with two hits as the Blazers tallied 11 safeties in the game. 
 
Junior reliever Tyler Ray, who was called upon to get Utah Tech out of that first inning, kept the Blazers in the game by tossing 4.1 innings of two-hit relief with four strikeouts. Meanwhile freshman Talan Kelly later threw 3.1 scoreless innings in his collegiate debut.
 
After spotting UNC a first-inning run in the nightcap, Utah Tech used the long ball to snatch the lead away in the fourth on the strength of a two-run Katschke blast to left.
 
Like they did in game one, the Bears wrestled the lead right back one inning later thanks to a Kai Wagner opposite field two-run double with the bases loaded in the fifth.
 
UNC tacked on another run in the seventh to extend to a 5-2 advantage, but Utah Tech got that run back after the stretch on a Ryan Kroepel run-scoring groundout.
 
The Trailblazers then regained the lead in the eighth when with the bases loaded and one out, Andrew Pyle hit a bounding ball up the middle to Sanchez at short. 
 
Sanchez flipped ball to second for the second out, but the relay throw flew wide of first base, which allowed Perez and Stewart to score the tying and go-ahead runs.
 
Northern Colorado threatened in the ninth with runners at first and second with one out. Like he did the night before in the Blazers' series-opening win, Kroepel made the move from third base to the mound and quickly recorded the second out on a Bear sacrifice bunt.
 
Then after an intentional walk loaded the bases, Kroepel (S, 2) got pinch hitter Brett Barber to fly out to Katschke in right field to end the game.
 
Perez collected two more hits in game two as the top-five in the Blazer lineup accounted for all seven hits overall.
 
Senior reliever Jacob Taggart (W, 1-0) struck out two in two scoreless innings to earn his first decision of the year. Junior righthander Ryan Martinez (ND) fanned seven and scattered two earned runs (three total) and five hits over six solid innings in his Trailblazer debut.

Utah Tech will look to clinch its first series win of the 2025 season in Sunday's finale beginning at 12:05 p.m.