Utah Tech was again done in by a hot Tarleton State start as the Trailblazers dropped the third and final game of its WAC conference road series to the Texans, 14-4 in seven innings, on Sunday afternoon at the Tarleton Baseball Complex.
 
As they did in the middle game of the weekend series on Saturday, the Trailblazers (17-24/3-12 WAC) found themselves in an early-inning hole. 
 
Tarleton State (20-25/8-7 WAC) struck for two first inning runs on a Trace Morrison home run on the third pitch of the inning. The Texans then blew the game open with a six-run second, pounding out seven hits, three of which went for extra bases, to chase Blazer starter Ryan Martinez (L, 2-2) and bolt out to a commanding 8-0 lead.
 
Utah Tech got up off the deck in the third with a two-out rally to cut the deficit in half at 8-4. Kace Naone kickstarted the rally with his second solo homer in as many days, and his fourth of the season. 
 
Then after a Ryan Kroepel single to right field, Hunter Katschke ambushed a 1-0 Holt Gibson (ND) fast ball and sent it well over the left field wall netting and into traffic to make it an 8-3 game.
 
Aaron Perez kept the inning alive with a double off the wall in center and took third on an error ahead of Finnegan Stewart, who chased Perez home with a single to pull Utah Tech to within four runs. 

Unfortunately Utah Tech could not close the gap as Tarleton State tacked on a single run in the fifth, and got another Morrison two-run home run in the sixth to extend to an 11-4 advantage. 
 
The Texans went on to end the game in the seventh with three more runs to invoke the conference's run-rule and complete the series sweep. 

The Trailblazers wound up with 10 hits on the afternoon, with Perez and Stewart each collecting three hits apiece, while Naone doubled in the Utah Tech first inning before his third-inning homer. 

Utah Tech will play seven of its next eight games at home, starting with a midweek match-up against UNLV this Tuesday night. First pitch at Bruce Hurst Field is set for 6:05 p.m. (MT).