(St. George, Utah - Feb. 20, 2026) - The Trailblazers opened their home slate on Friday with a pair of victories coming back to defeat UC Davis, 14-11 on a walk-off home run and downed CSU Bakersfield, 12-2 in five innings at Karl Brooks Field.
Utah Tech (4-8) pushed their winning streak to four breaking out bats to score 26 runs & notch 29 hits in the two contests, including 13 going for extra bases.
Led by the duo of
Kinley Pappas and
Baylee Howley, the duo each notched multi-hit games.
Pappas tallied a double, triple, RBI and two runs scored in game one & added three hits and three RBI in the second game while Howley went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles, two RBI & three runs scored in the opener & added a double, triple, four RBI & a run scored against the Roadrunners.
Lakaiya-Braessia Kahahawai-Kekona drilled a single, double, home run, four RBI and scored a career-high four runs against UC Davis and
Gabi Giroux went 2-for-2 with a single, home run, and scored a career-best three runs in the rout of the Roadrunners.
In the circle against UC Davis (7-5),
Sauren Garton tossed the first 4.1 innings against the Aggies allowing only three runs and struck out a pair before two innings from
Delaney Wright. Sophomore
Cemryn Pickett earned her first win of the season with the final two outs of the seventh.
The nightcap saw a complete game from sophomore
Lexie Wilson, who tossed a career-high five innings limiting CSU Bakersfield (1-11) to five hits and two runs for her second win of the season.
How It Happened vs. UC Davis
Taking a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Trailblazers tacked on four more in the third to push their lead to 5-0.
A three-run home run by the Aggies in the fifth broke up Garton's shutout bid, but the Trailblazers quickly answered back with a four-run bottom of the frame to push their lead to 9-3.
A two-run RBI double up the middle by Howley drove home
Naya Taylor and
Maka Sonognini and Howley &
Drew McKown both came home after Pappas reached base on a fielding error.
Two more runs came in for UCD in the sixth, but the Trailblazers responded with an RBI single by
Lauren Jones to make it 10-5 in advantage of UT moving to the seventh.
Only three outs away from victory, the Aggies got hot from the plate coming around to score six runs and jump in front, 11-10.
Needing a run to force extra innings or two to win, the Trailblazers tied up the contest at 11 on an RBI triple by Pappas and after a walk to
Sadie Phillips, Kahahawai-Kekona drilled a walk-off three-run home run to left field to win a back-and-forth thriller.
How It Happened vs. CSU Bakersfield
After a quick 1-0 lead for the Roadrunners, the Trailblazers reeled off 12 unanswered runs getting action started with a robust seven-run bottom of the first.
The scoring got started with an RBI double up the middle by Kahahawai-Kekona followed by a two-run RBI double down the left field line by Howley.
McKown followed Howley with an RBI single to center to bring around two more Trailblazers and Pappas rounded the high-scoring inning with a two-run RBI triple to push UT ahead, 7-1.
Howley kept her strong afternoon from the plate going in the second with a two-run RBI triple and three more runs came home for the Trailblazers in the fourth to extend their lead to 12-1.
The Roadrunners tacked on a solo home run in the fifth, but Wilson got the final two outs of the contest to seal the win.
Up Next
The Trailblazers continue the Lyman Classic on Saturday afternoon taking on UC Davis at 3 p.m. and CSU Bakersfield at 5:30 p.m. at Karl Brooks Field.
