Utah Tech swept the middle two games of its 2026 home opening series with visiting Northern Colorado on Saturday afternoon at the Bruce Hurst Field.  
 
The Trailblazers held off a late Bear rally to claim the seven-inning opener, 6-5, then belted three home runs en route to an 11-5 triumph in the nightcap.
 
GAME #1
Utah Tech (10-1/0-0 WAC) scored all six of its runs in the first three innings to race out to a commanding 6-1 lead.
 
The Blazers struck for three quick first inning runs, two of which came home on a Miller Durham single to right field.
 
Utah Tech put up another three-spot in the home third, thanks in part to a Bears' throwing error and a two-run opposite field double off the bat of Gavin Long.
 
The early run support bolstered a strong start from righthander Dakoda West (W, 1-0), who struck out five and limited the Bears to only one run and three hits over his first four innings of work.
 
However UNCO would claw back in the fifth, plating three runs on four hits, along with a costly Blazer error, to chase West from the game and pull to within two runs at 6-4.
 
In the UNCO seventh, the Bears strung together consecutive two-out doubles off of Utah Tech closer Ryan Kroepel (S, 5) to make a one-run game. 
 
That would be a close as the Bears would get as Kroepel needed only one more pitch to induce a Logan Pruski flyout to end the game.
 
Durham and Kace Naone each collected two hits to lead Utah Tech, which finished with seven safeties in the opener. 
 
GAME #2
After Northern Colorado plated a pair of first inning runs, Utah Tech clapped back seven unanswered runs over its first four offensive frames to erase the deficit and take a 7-2 lead.
 
Durham managed to get one of those runs back with a two-out RBI double in the home first, then Kyle McDaniel rapped a double of his own with two outs in the second to chase home Finnegan Stewart with the tying run after he reached with a lead-off single.
 
Utah Tech took the lead for good in the third when after Kroepel walked and Long singled, Stewart belted his first homer of the season over the wall in right center.
 
The Trailblazers tacked on two more runs an inning later with a Kroepel RBI-single, while Stewart drove his career-high tying fourth run with a two-out base hit.
 
Freshman hurler David Sheppard (ND) settled after his rough first inning as he went on to retire nine of the next 12 Bear hitters he faced, and managed to strike out four over four innings complete, though he did not figure in the decision.
 
Utah Tech turned things over to the bullpen as four relievers combined to hold UNCO to just three runs and four hits over the final five innings. Jackson Price pitched two shutout innings and fanned three in his Trailblazer debut, while Talan Kelly struck out the side in the ninth to wrap up the Saturday sweep.
 
The Trailblazers pounded out 14 hits in the nightcap, with Stewart leading the way with a career high four hits to go with his four RBI.
 
Meanwhile Petey Soto Jr. collected two hits, including a big three-run homer in the eighth inning, while Long went 2-for-4 with a solo blast in the sixth. In addition, freshman outfielder Mays Madsen made the most of his first collegiate start by going 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored. 
 
A day after his school record 22-game hit streak came to an end, McDaniel recorded base hits in each of the two games on Saturday to extend his school record on-base streak to 52-straight games dating back to last season. 
 
Utah Tech will play for a series sweep in the finale of the four-game set on Sunday afternoon at 12:05 p.m. (MT).