Cade Montgomery struck out a career-high six, while Hunter Katschke homered and drove in three runs, as Utah Tech baseball rolled to a 9-2 road series opening victory at Portland, 9-2, on Friday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field.
 
The Trailblazers (4-6) opened the scoring in the third when Levi Randall, who singled with one out and later advanced to third on a wild pitch and an error, scampered home on back end of a failed stolen base attempt.
 
Randall picked up his second run scored in the fifth when after he reached on a two-out error, Katschke drilled his third home run of the season to straight-away center field make it a 3-0 game.
 
Ryan Kroepel then stepped up and laced a triple to right center and scored five pitches later on an Aaron Perez double to right field that pushed the lead to 4-0. 
 
The early run support bolstered another great start for righthander Cade Montgomery (W, 3-0), who faced one over the minimum through his first four innings of work. The sophomore held Portland to only two base hits in the early going, with both base runners eventually being erased on failed stolen base attempts.
 
The Pilots (3-6) managed to crack the scoreboard in the home fifth as a pair of one-hits and a throwing error led a run that trimmed the Blazer lead to 4-1.
 
Utah Tech managed to get that run back with one down in the sixth when with runners on the corners, Petey Soto Jr. flew out right to chase home Andrew Pyle carrying the Blazers' fifth run.
 
Portland looked as if it was poised for a big inning in the home sixth after three-straight Pilots reached on singles to lead-off the frame.
 
However Montgomery bore down and induced a double-play ball to Soto Jr. at shortstop, then got Pilot infielder Spencer Scott to ground out to second base as Portland managed to push across only one run in the rally.
 
The Trailblazers tacked on another run in the seventh on a Kyle McDaniel RBI hit before breaking the game open with three eighth-inning runs to extend to a commanding 9-2 advantage.
 
Katschke doubled in Gavin Long with one out in the eighth, which was followed by a two-run Kroepel line drive single to center. 
 
Meanwhile Montgomery gave way to reliever Aaron Morris, who came on to begin the seventh and fanned two in two hitless innings. 
 
Freshman Jackson Bell then worked around a one-out hit in the home ninth, which ended with a spectacular diving catch by Katschke in right field, who fired the ball to Perez at first base to double off the Pilot base runner. 
 
Eight of the nine Trailblazers in the starting line-up collected at least one hit as Utah Tech pounded out a season-high 17 hits on the day. In fact, nine different Blazer batters reached base safely with a base hit, including six players with recording multi-hit outings.
 
Kroepel, McDaniel and Pyle each tallied three hits, while Katschke, Randall and Long finished with two hits apiece. 
 
Montgomery's six strikeouts bettered his previous career high of five, which he recorded twice last season, with the last instance coming his final appearance of the year vs. California Baptist (5/17/24). He scattered two runs (one earned) on seven hits over six innings complete to earn his third decision in as many starts to begin the season.  
 
Montgomery became the first Trailblazer in the program's brief Division I era to win his first three starts to open a season. The sophomore also became the first Utah Tech pitcher to win his first three season starts since former Blazer Jayden Murray turned the trick in 2019 on his way to a 10-3 record.
 
The two teams will play game two of their four-game series on Saturday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. (MT).