Utah Tech was felled by a late-inning Pilot rally as the Trailblazers dropped the second game of their four-game road series at Portland in a 5-4 walk-off on Saturday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field.
 
The Trailblazers (4-7) found themselves in an early 2-0 hole after the Pilots strung together three hits against starter Ryan Martinez (ND), and took their first lead of the series on a two-out, two-run Doyle Kand double.
 
That was all Portland (4-6) would get off the Blazer righthander over the next five innings as Martinez retired 16 of the next 18 Pilot hitters he faced, including six on strikes.
 
Meanwhile the Utah Tech offense, which rapped out a season-high 17 hits in Friday's series-opening win, was limited to just two total hits over the first five innings by Portland starter Curtis Hebert (ND).
 
However that all changed in the Blazer sixth when Utah Tech loaded the bases against Hebert with two outs on Levi Randall double and a pair of walks, which drew a mound visit by the Pilot pitching coach.
 
After the meeting ended, Blazer third baseman Ryan Kroepel ambushed the first pitch he saw from the Portland hurler and sent it well over the right field wall to clear the bases. Kroepel's grand slam, his second home run of the year, staked Utah Tech to a 4-2 lead. 
 
Unfortunately the Trailblazers were not able to maintain their advantage as Portland pushed across one run in the seventh, and later tied the game at 4-4 on a Zach Toglia solo homer with one out in the eighth.
 
After Pilot reliever JT Landwher (W, 1-0) worked around a walk and a two-out hit in the Blazer ninth, Portland infielder Jonas Salk walked with one out and moved into scoring position on a passed ball. 
 
Portland reserve third baseman Cole Katayama-Stall then completed the Pilot comeback with a double off the left field wall to chase home Salk from second base with the game-winning run.
 
Utah Tech wound up with seven hits on the afternoon, with Randall accounting for two of those safeties and one run scored.
 
Martinez was once again solid on the bump. The junior pitched into the seventh and surrendered only three runs and seven hits, while his six punch outs were one off of his season high.  
 
The two teams will play game three of their four-game series on Sunday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. (MT).