Utah Tech closed out the home portion of its 2025 season with a 9-7 WAC series-clinching decision over UT Arlington on Senior Day Sunday at Bruce Hurst Field. 
 
With Sunday's win, the Trailblazers improved to 21-27 overall, 7-14 in conference place, and finished with a 17-15 home record. 
 
Meanwhile, Sunday's result also served as the 400^th-career victory for longtime Utah Tech Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer (400-360-1 overall; 348-301-1 at Utah Tech). 
 
Utah Tech scored at least one run in seven of its eight offensive innings, which started with a two-out RBI single from Hunter Katschke in the home first.
 
UT Arlington (18-29/10-11 WAC) quickly countered with a single run in the second, then used a four-hit barrage in the third to plate two more runs en route to a 3-1 advantage.
 
The Trailblazers clapped back with a game-tying, two-run Aaron Perez single in their half of the third, and reclaimed the lead at 4-3 thanks to a Kace Naone run scoring single with two outs in the fourth.
 
Perez collected his third RBI to lead-off the Blazer fifth with his seventh home run of the season to stake his side to a two-run cushion. However his UTA counterpart, first baseman Xavier Melendez, followed suit with a one-out solo blast in the top of the sixth to pull the Mavericks to within a run at 5-4.
 
Utah Tech got that run back in its half of the stanza on a Ryan Kroepel run-scoring single, and extended to a commanding 8-4 lead after the stretch on RBI hits from Levi Randall and Kyle McDaniel.
 
The Trailblazers managed to push across one more insurance run in the eighth when Ethan Royal singled home senior pinch runner Ethan He. 
 
That run turned out to be crucial as the Mavericks scored three ninth inning runs without benefit of a base hit to pull to within 9-7 with two outs.
 
The Utah Tech bullpen issued four-straight, one-out walks. The jam also got compounded by three wild pitches, two of which allowed Maverick base runners to score. 
 
With runners on second and third and one out after the third wild pitch, and for the second time in as many games, Kroepel was called upon to move from third base to the mound to quell another Maverick rally.
 
Kroepel managed to trade one run for a big second out when UTA lead off hitter Cade Dodson flew out to Randall in left field. Then after a two-out Blazer error, Kroepel (S, 7) got Tate Bethel to fly out to Randall to end the game. 
 
Eight of the nine Trailblazers in the starting line-up recorded at least one hit, led by Kroepel, who went 4-for-5 with two doubles, one RBI and one run scored.
 
Perez, who finished a triple shy of the cycle, pounded three hits to go with his three RBI in his final home start. Fellow seniors Katschke and Royal also rapped out three hits apiece in their final home games as Utah Tech outhit UTA 17-11. 
 
McDaniel, who has now hit safely in 18 of his last 19 games overall, extended his Division I-era school record on-base streak to 34-straight games thanks to two walks and a run-scoring double. McDaniel's current 34-game streak pull him into a tie with former Utah Tech infielder Tyler Blair (34 games; 2014) for the second-longest streak in the program's four-year era.
 
Blazer reliever Ethan Gardner (W, 1-0), who came on to begin the fourth inning in place of starter Dakoda West (ND), scattered one run on four hits with one strikeout in three innings of work to earn his first win of the season. 
 
West tossed three innings complete in his 10^th start of the year, during which he struck out two and scattered three runs on seven hits, but did not figure in the decision.
 
Utah Tech wraps up the 2025 regular season with a four-game NorCal road trip, which starts with a Tuesday night non-conference tilt at UC Davis.