Utah Tech swept the middle two games of its season-opening series at UC Riverside on Saturday afternoon at the Riverside Sports Complex.
The Trailblazers rallied for a 4-3 win in seven innings in the first game of the Valentine's Day twin bill. Utah Tech then raced out to a big lead in game two, but needed to hold off a late Highlander rally to escape with a 12-8 triumph the nightcap.
GAME #1
Trailing by a pair of runs heading into the third inning, Utah Tech (3-0/0-0 WAC) strung together three hits to even the game at 2-2.
Gavin Long reached on a lead-off single and stole second ahead of
Kyle McDaniel, who split the gap in left center with a base to chase in the Blazers' first run.
McDaniel managed to advance to second thanks to a Highlander error on the play, and would come around to score on a
Ryan Kroepel single to center.
After UCR (0-3) jumped back on top with a run in the home third, the Trailblazers had a chance to take their first lead of the day an inning later when
Cooper Smith reached on a lead-off walk ahead of a one-out
Ty Johnsen double to put runners on second and third.
However Utah Tech was only able push across one run, which came on a Long sacrifice flyout which again tied the game at 3-3.
The Blazers did eventually take the lead in the fifth when
Hudson Manwaring scampered home from third on a wild pitch to make it a 4-3 game.
Utah Tech turned it over to the bullpen, with junior reliever
Brandon Wyland (W, 1-0) recording the final two outs of the fifth in relief of starter
David Sheppard (ND). Kroepel (S, 1) then moved from third base to the mound and needed only 19 pitches to breeze through two spotless innings of relief to earn his first save of the season.
McDaniel and Kroepel collected two hits apiece, while
Hudson Manwaring, Johnsen and Long each had one safety, as Utah Tech outhit UCR 7-4.
Sheppard was solid in his collegiate debut, striking out two while surrendering only three runs and four hits over 4.1 innings.
GAME #2
Utah Tech led wire-to-wire, striking for a first-inning run before breaking open the game with a seven-run third to bolt out to a commanding 8-0 advantage.
Kroepel was hit by a pitch and
Finnegan Stewart walked to lead off the third ahead of
Miller Durham, who was credited with a bunt single.
UCR starting pitcher Joshua Martinez (L, 0-1) attempted to make a throw on the play, but the throw went wide of the second base bag, which allowed both Kroepel and Stewart to score.
Gavin Glasgow followed that with a sharp single through the left side to plate Durham, while
Petey Soto Jr.,
Kace Naone, and Stewart all drove in runs as the Blazers sent 10 batters to the plate in the stanza.
The early run support bolstered a strong start by senior righthander
Dakoda West (W, 1-0), who only faced three over the minimum over his first four innings of work.
UCR seemed to solve West in the fifth, touching him up for two runs before ending his day with two outs in the frame.
Utah Tech managed to get one of those runs back in the sixth with a one-out Durham RBI-single, but the Highlanders answered with two more runs on the home half to trim the Blazer lead to 9-4.
The Trailblazers thought they had delivered the knock-out blow with three insurance runs in the seventh, but UCR countered with four runs of its own to start the home seventh and had runners on second and third with no outs.
Kroepel was again summoned from third base to the mound, and the first batter he faced, UCR lead-off hitter Robert Pitts, laid down a bunt to the third base side of the mound.
Kroepel made a diving stop on the ball, spun and fired a strike to Durham at first base to record the first out, all while neither Highlander baserunner tried to advance. Kroepel then struck out Andrew Rivas looking and induced a Jarren Sanderson fly out to center to salt away the Saturday sweep.
Ten different Trailblazers collected at least base hit in the nightcap as Utah Tech finished with 14 hits on the day. McDaniel finished with two hits and two runs scored out of the lead-off spot, which extended his NCAA-era school record on-base streak to 45-straight games, and his career-long hit streak to 16-straight.
Meanwhile Durham, Glasgow and Soto Jr. also had two hits, one RBI and one run scored apiece. West struck out three while allowing two runs and six hits over 4.2 innings to earn his first win of the season.
Utah Tech will play for a series sweep in the finale of the four-game set on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. (MT).
