Utah Tech dropped the middle two games of its four-game weekend series with UC Riverside on Saturday afternoon at Bruce Hurst Field.
 
The Trailblazers (3-4) could not protect a ninth-inning lead in a 5-4 loss in 10 innings in the opener, while they nearly overcame a school-record eight errors in a dramatic 8-6 decision in the nightcap.
 
Utah Tech, which trailed 1-0 after a Landon Nunes first inning opposite field home run, was held hitless through the first five innings in game one before Petey Soto Jr. led off the Blazer sixth with a double to straight away center field.
 
Soto Jr. was later erased on the base paths, though Utah Tech was able to finally crack the scoreboard when Finnegan Stewart drove in Hunter Katschke with a two-out single.
 
After UCR (4-3) jumped back on top with a Tyler Gordon solo homer in the seventh, the Trailblazers answered with three runs in the eighth to take their first lead of the game at 4-2.
 
With two on and two out, freshman pinch hitter Grady Daniels picked up his first collegiate RBI on a sharp single up the middle to chase home Ryan Kroepel from second, while Aiden Dance went first-to-third on the play. 
 
Then after pinch runner Levi Randall stole, catcher Ty Johnsen laced a 3-2 pitch back up the middle to drive in both base runners and give the Blazers a two-run cushion heading to the ninth.
 
However UC Riverside quickly tied the game at 4-4 as the first three Highlanders reached on a walk and a double before a Manoah Chapman two-run single pull UCR even.
 
UCR held Utah Tech off the scoreboard in the ninth and took the lead back in the 10^th on a two-out Jayden Lopez single. Highlander reliever Nolan Milliman (S, 1) would work around a two-out walk in the Blazer 10^thto close out the win.
 
Utah Tech finished with seven hits in the game, with Katschke collecting two of those safeties to go with one run scored.
 
Junior righthander Ryan Martinez (L, 0-1) was saddled with the loss despite striking out four while allowing only two runs and seven hits over seven solid innings. 
 
UC Riverside bolted out to a quick 4-0 third inning lead in the nightcap, with two of those runs coming as a result of four early Blazer errors, including three miscues in the Highlander third.
 
Utah Tech got one of those runs back on an Andrew Pyle homer in the home third, only to see UC Riverside clap back with single runs in the fourth and sixth frames to extend to a commanding 6-1 advantage.
 
Down 7-2 with six outs to play with, the Trailblazers put together another eighth-inning rally, this time striking for four runs to cut the deficit to 7-6.
 
Utah Tech loaded the bases with no outs on walks to Katschke and pinch hitter Ethan He, which bookended a Kroepel single. Milliman was then called upon again out of the UCR bullpen, and he promptly issued a pinch hit walk to Johnsen, which forced home Katschke.
 
Kace Naone then singled home Kroepel, while He scored one play later on an Eliot Jones groundout to make it a 7-5 game. Then with runners on the corners, Pyle doubled deep into the gap in right center to drive in Johnsen and move Jones to third.
 
However Milliman was able to retire the next two Blazer hitters he faced to extinguish the rally and send the game to the ninth with UCR clinging to a one-run lead.
 
The Highlanders went on to plate a big two-out insurance run in that ninth inning, which came on Utah Tech's eighth error of the game.
 
Utah Tech had one more chance in the ninth as Katschke walked, took second on a wild pitch, and advanced to third on a Kroepel single that gave the Blazers runners on the corners with no out.
 
But again UCR would escape a late-inning jam as Highlander reliever Brent Godina (S, 1) retired the final three Blazers he faced to compete the Saturday sweep.
 
Kroepel finished with a season-high three hits, including a sixth-inning solo homer, while Pyle went 2-for-4 with two RBI as Utah Tech tallied seven hits in the nightcap. 
 
Utah Tech will look to salvage a series split in Sunday's finale beginning at 12:05 p.m.