Utah Tech took advantage of five Roadrunner miscues, and used a pair of big innings, to roll to a 14-4 road victory at Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday afternoon at Hardt Field.
The Trailblazer offense picked up right where it left off from last weekend's sweep at UC Riverside, striking for four second-inning runs to bolt out to an early lead.
Miller Durham led off the frame with his first, and Utah Tech's first, home run of the season to get the Blazers on the scoreboard.
Cooper Smith followed that with a base hit and after
Ty Johnsen was plunked Saul Bolivar (L, 0-1) pitch,
Gavin Long doubled to the gap in right center to chase home Smith with game's second run.
Petey Soto Jr. then drew a walk to flip the line-up back to lead-off hitter
Kyle McDaniel, who laced a two-run single through the right side of the infield to extend the Utah Tech lead to 4-0.
CSU Bakersfield (2-3) countered with a three-run rally of its own in the home third to trim the deficit to 4-3. Five-straight Roadrunners reached with one out in the stanza, with Evan Cloyd providing the big hit with a two-run single to center.
Utah Tech (5-0/0-0 WAC) managed to get one of those runs back in the fifth thanks to two CSUB errant pick-off throws, which allowed
Hudson Manwaring to score after he reached with a one-out single.
The Trailblazers blew the game open an inning later with five runs, with the big blows coming on a McDaniel two-run single, and a bases clearing three-run double off the bat of
Finnegan Stewart, which extended the Utah Tech advantage to 10-3.
Utah Tech was gifted two insurance runs in the seventh thanks to two more Roadrunner errors, and the Blazers cruised from there to remain perfect on their season-opening California road swing.
McDaniel drove in a career high five runs as part of a 3-of-6 day at the plate, and in the process extended his NCAA era school record on-base streak to 46-straight games, and his career-long hit streak to 19 games.
Johnsen finished with two hits and three runs scored, while eight different Trailblazers had at least one hit, as Utah Tech pounded out 11 safeties on the day.
Meanwhile, three Blazer hurlers combined to limit CSUB to seven hits. Senior southpaw
Brock Roundy (W, 1-0) fanned three and surrendered only one run and three hits over the middle three innings to earn his first decision of the season.
Redshirt sophomore righthander
Easton Brooks (S, 1) then came on struck out a career-high six in three spotless innings from the seventh on to collect his first collegiate save.
Utah Tech wraps up its eight-game California road swing this weekend with a three-game series at Pacific. Games one and two of the series will be played on Thursday and Friday nights beginning at 7 p.m. (MT), while Saturday's finale will start at 2 p.m. (MT).
