Utah Tech made its Division-I era postseason debut a memorable one as the Trailblazers came away with a thrilling 6-5 victory over California Baptist in 11 innings in the opening round of the 2025 University Credit Union Western Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament on Tuesday at Hohokam Stadium.
 
Thanks to Tuesday's win, the eighth-seeded Trailblazers advance on to the double-elimination bracket of the tournament, where they will face No. 4 seed Grand Canyon on Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m. (MT).
 
Tuesday's game marked the 58^th series meeting the two longtime rivals on the diamond, which the Trailblazers evened at 29-29 with the extra-inning triumph. It was also the fifth time the two sides had faced each other in postseason play, and the second time in as many postseason games that a Utah Tech win eliminated CBU. 
 
And as even as the overall series currently stands, the two teams found themselves in a scoreless draw through the opening three-plus innings.
 
Junior righthander Ryan Martinez (ND) cruised through his first three frames, retiring nine of the first 11 Lancers he faced. 

However CBU (30-27) broke through with three two-out runs against the Blazer hurler to jump out to a 3-0 advantage.
 
Meanwhile, Lancer southpaw Cody New (ND) was just as stingy, limiting Utah Tech to only one hit and two base runners in his first four innings of work.
 
Utah Tech got one of those runs back one inning later when with two on and two out, Kyle McDaniel lined a shot that glanced off the glove of a sprawling Jake Brown at first base.
 
McDaniel raced down the line and beat out the throw to the bag for an infield single, which allowed Finnegan Stewart to score from third on the play to cut the deficit to 3-1.
 
The Trailblazers later struck for two more runs in the seventh to knot the score at 3-3. Stewart started the rally with a single, which was followed by a balk, a sacrifice bunt and three walks, the last of which was issued to McDaniel with the bases loaded chased Stewart home from third. 
 
Kace Naone followed that up two pitches later with a run-scoring fly out to pull Utah Tech even.
 
Martinez managed to shake off that fourth inning hiccup as he surrendered just two Lancer hits over the next three innings, which included his defense turning a 2-6-3 double play on a sacrifice bunt attempt in the seventh after a lead-off single.  
 
Utah Tech took advantage of more Lancer pitching woes in the eighth, loading the bases with no outs on two more walks that bookended an Aaron Perez single. 
 
However the Blazers missed a chance to blow the game open as CBU surrendered only one run, which came on a double play, though that run did give Utah Tech a 4-3 lead.
 
CBU threatened to at least tie or take the lead in the home eighth when the first two Lancers reached base, which ultimately spelled the end of the day for Martinez.
 
Blazer third baseman and closer Ryan Kroepel was called upon to move from the hot corner to the mound, and he needed only two pitches to get Brown to bounce into a 4-6-3 double play.
 
Lancer base runner Andrew Walters was able to advance to third on the play, and would eventually tie the game at 4-4 when Ben Castelli ripped an opposite field single to left. 
 
The score remained tied until the Utah Tech 11^th inning, which got started with consecutive walks issued to Ty Johnsen and Petey Soto Jr. McDaniel then reached on a throwing error on a bunt attempt to load the bases ahead of Naone, who broke the tie with his second RBI-flyout.
 
That brought Kroepel to the plate, and the sophomore helped his own cause by doubling off the wall in straight-away center field to plate Soto Jr. and extend the Utah Tech lead to 6-4.
 
CBU mounted one last charge, cutting the Blazer lead in half with a Matt Chavez run-scoring fly out with runners on the corners and one out. Pinch hitter Connor Ross then lined a shot right back at Kroepel, who was able to knock it down but could not recover in time to throw out Ross at first base.

That would be the last base runner the Lancers would get as Kroepel (W, 4-2) got Chris Ramirez to ground out to end the game. 
 
Utah Tech won despite only recording seven total hits on the day, though the Blazers were issued 12 free passes by Lancer pitching. Perez and Stewart each finished with two hits, while McDaniel and Naone tallied two RBI apiece.
 
McDaniel also extended his school NCAA Division-I era record on-base streak to 39-straight games, and his current hit streak to 12-straight games. McDaniel's fifth inning single also pulled him even with former Utah Tech shortstop Tanner Morache (39 games, 2016) atop Utah Tech's overall NCAA-era school on-base streak record. 
 
Along with earning his fourth win of the season in relief, Kroepel extended his season-long hit streak to 17-straight games with his 11^th-inning double. Kroepel tossed a season-high four innings of relief, allowing one unearned run and four hits with one strikeout.
 
Martinez fired seven innings of solid baseball, scattering four runs and eight hits with three strikeouts.