Game Times (Mountain):
Friday - 5 p.m.
Saturday - 1 p.m.
Sunday - 12 noon
Game Notes: UTAH TECH - PDF | SIU
Live TV/Streaming: GAME #1 - TBA | GAME #2 - TBA | GAME #3 - TBA
Live Stats: GAME #1 | GAME #2 | GAME #3
Twitter: @UtahTech_Sports | @UtahTech_BASE | #UtahTechBlazers | #WACbsb

PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – RHP #45 Jackson Price (0-1, 4.91 ERA) vs. RHP #25 Andrew Evans (3-1, 2.12 ERA)
Saturday (G2) – RHP #35 Dakoda West (2-3, 5.68 ERA) vs. LHP #27 Troy Shepard (0-2, 5.22 ERA)
Sunday (G3) – RHP #33 Brandon Kosel (2-0, 1.88 ERA) vs. RHP #22 Meade Johnson (0-1, 4.91 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: For the first time in the program's NCAA era, Utah Tech (16-9/0-0 WAC) will venture east of the Mississippi River to play a three-game road weekend series at Southern Illinois (9-14/1-2 MVC). 
      Friday's series opener will start at 5 p.m. (MT), followed by game two on Saturday at 1 p.m. (MT), and Sunday's series finale at 12 noon (MT), at Itchy Jones Stadium (2,000) on the SIU campus in Carbondale.
 
UTAH TECH VS. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: This weekend's series is the first-ever meeting between Utah Tech and Southern Illinois on the diamond. 
      In fact, Utah Tech's series at SIU will mark the first time that the Trailblazers will have played a member of the Missouri Valley Conference in baseball. 
 
WAC FOR ONE MORE SEASON: The 2026 campaign will mark an end of an (brief) era as Utah Tech will compete as a member of the Western Athletic Conference for the sixth, and final, season. The Trailblazers joined the WAC in 2020-21 during the first year of the program's NCAA Division I transition. 
 
CLIMBING THE "MOUNTAIN" IN 2027: This past October 29, Utah Tech announced that it had accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West Conference beginning on July 1, 2026. 
      Starting in the 2026-27 season, both the Trailblazer Baseball and Men's Soccer programs will compete under the Mountain West banner as affiliate members.
 
COACHING STAFF: Two-time Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year Chris Pfatenhauer is in his 14th season as head coach of the Utah Tech Baseball program. 
      During his tenure in the Utah Tech dugout, Pfatenhauer led the Trailblazers to consecutive PacWest titles in 2014 and 2015, and to five-straight trips to the NCAA West Regionals from 2013-17, including serving as the host institution in 2013. 
      Pfatenhauer, who picked up his 350th victory as UT skipper in the 2025 regular season finale at Sacramento State (6-5; 5/17/2025), owns a 367-314-1 (.539) overall record at Utah Tech, and a 419-373-1 (.529) career mark. 
      Joining Pfatenhauer (UNLV, 2000) in the Trailblazer dugout this season is assistant coach Braxton Ipson (Utah Tech, 2020), who is in his fourth season on coaching staff overall after concluding his collegiate playing career with the program in 2020.
      In addition, pitching coach Quentin McGrath (Washburn, 2017) and assistant coach Tyler Malone (Oregon State, 2020) are in their first seasons on Pfatenhauer's staff, as is former Trailblazer Jake Schulz (Utah Tech 2025), who returns to Utah Tech as the program's director of baseball operations.
 
INCHING HIS WAY TO TWO MORE CAREER MILESTONES: Coach Pfatenhauer is on track to pass two more career milestones next month.
Pfatenhauer will coach in his 800th career baseball game in the home series finale vs. Sacramento State on Saturday, April 4. 
      In addition, the long-time Blazer skipper is slated to be in the dugout for his 700th game at Utah Tech in the road opener at California Baptist on Friday, April 24.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Utah Tech went 3-1 in four games vs. the Mountain West Conference last weekend. The Trailblazers swept a two-game home series vs. Fresno State last Thursday (W, 17-13) and Friday (W, 8-7/10 inn.), before splitting a two-game road set at UNLV.
      After Utah Tech dropped an 11-1 run-rule decision in seven innings last Saturday night, the Blazers flipped the script and claimed their first-ever win vs. Rebels with an 11-1 run-rule triumph in eight innings on Sunday afternoon. 
 
TRAILBLAZERS VOTED SIXTH IN WAC PRESEASON POLL: Utah Tech was picked to finish sixth in the Western Athletic Conference in the league's 2026 preseason coaches poll released on February 10. 
      Four of the seven teams in the poll received at least one first place vote, led by Abilene Christian, which received three first-place votes and 33 points to top the 2026 preseason coaches poll. Utah Valley garnered one first place nod to finish second with 29 points, while California Baptist collected one first place vote and 27 points to claim the third spot.
      Meanwhile Sacramento State picked up the final two first place votes to finish fourth with 22 points, followed by Tarleton State (15 pts) in fifth, Utah Tech (11 pts) in sixth, and UT Arlington (10 pts) in seventh.  
      The top six teams in the conference standings will advance on to the 2026 WAC Baseball Championship Tournament, which will be held May 20-23 at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz. 
 
HOME SWEET HOME: Utah Tech owns a 338-177 (.656) all-time in 515 games played inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field since the start of its four-year era in the 2007 season, which includes an 8-3 mark this season.
      The Trailblazers played to a 17-15 overall home record last season, which is the program's 16th winning home record in 19 seasons since transitioning to NCAA status in 2007.
      Utah Tech has won 20 or more home games in eight of the previous 19 seasons overall, including 21-5 (.807) record in 2017, and a 24-6 mark (.800) in 2016, which was the second-best home record in terms of wins in the program's NCAA era (26-7 in 2009). 
      The 24 home wins in 2016 were the most under Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer, while the .807 winning percentage in 2017 was the best W% in Pfatenhauer's tenure.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Utah Tech has managed to hold its own away from away from home in its NCAA era as the Trailblazers have played to a 192-240-1 overall road record (.444) in their near 20 full years of NCAA play, including its 8-6 start this season. 
      In fact, the Trailblazers have already eclipsed last year's road win total (6-14), doing so in the series finale at Pacific (2/21) last month.
      Utah Tech has posted a winning road record in eight of their last 16 seasons overall, highlighted by a 16-7-1 road mark in 2017. The 16 road wins were the most since beginning NCAA play in 2007.
      In 2015, Utah Tech went a program-best 15-5 on the road (.750), and the Blazers have won at least 10 road games in nine of their last 11 seasons overall. 
      When you also figure in neutral-site games (16-12 in 28 games), Utah Tech is 208-252-1 (.452) all-time away from Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era.
 
24 to 1K: Utah Tech is slated to play in its 1,000th NCAA-era ball game at home on Sunday, May 3, in its series finale vs. Tarleton State.  
      The Trailblazers have played to a 546-429-1 (.560) record all-time as the program competes in its 20th NCAA-era season. 
      That record also includes a 113-184 (.380) mark in the program's current Division-I era, and a 62-88 (.413) record in Western Athletic Conference play.  
      In addition, Utah Tech is scheduled to play in its 300th NCAA Division I era game this Sunday afternoon's series finale at Southern Illinois.
 
9W vs. P4: Nine of Utah Tech's 113 D-I wins have come against Power-4 programs, including two wins over the Big 12 Conference last season (10-3 at BYU - 3/17/25; 12-8 vs. Utah - 3/25/25).  
      The Trailblazers also posted two P4 wins in 2024 on the road at Big 12 member Oklahoma State (9-8; 3/5/24), and at home vs. Utah when the Utes were a member of the PAC-12 Conference (W, 11-8; 5/7/24).  
      Seven of the nine Trailblazers wins have come against three former PAC-12 member schools (4 vs. Utah; 1 each vs. Arizona/Arizona State/Washington State). 
      Of note, Utah Tech's first three victories over BYU, which is in its third season of Big 12 play, were recorded when the Cougars were members of the West Coast Conference.
 
FREE BASEBALL: Utah Tech has seen four of its last 11 games go into extra innings, including a dramatic 8-7 walk-off victory in 10 innings over Fresno State last Thursday night. 
      The Trailblazers also split two 10-inning games in the Austin Peay series earlier this month, and dropped the series finale at Santa Clara (L, 5-6; 3/15) nearly two weeks ago. 
      The Trailblazers are 8-13 in extra inning affairs during their current Division I era, including a 5-3 mark since the start of the 2025 campaign.
      In all, Utah Tech is 40-27 (.597) in 67 extra-inning games in the program's four-year era. The Blazers are 21-16 in 10-inning games, while the program has won 14 of its last 26 extra inning games overall.
 
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: Utah Tech ended the 2025 season as the NCAA D-I co-STATISTICAL CHAMPION with UCLA in double plays per game at 1.00 dp/g. 
      The Trailblazers also wound up tied for fourth nationally in total double plays with 55, which were also the second-most recorded during the program's NCAA era. The Blazers closed the season one twin killing shy of tying the school record of 56 set during the 2022 campaign.
      Utah Tech already has 15 double plays through its first 25 games this season.
 
AIN'T LIFE GRAND: Utah Tech has already hit a single-season record tying three grand slams this year, all three of which happened within a span of six innings during the Blazers' homestand earlier this month.
      The Trailblazers' first grand slam came in walk-off fashion when senior DH/INF Gavin Glasgow cleared the bases in Utah Tech's series finale win over Northern Colorado (6-4; 3/1).
      Utah Tech followed that up with a school record two GS homers in its series opening win vs. APSU (3/5). Junior 2B Kyle McDaniel blasted his first collegiate grand slam with two outs in the fourth inning.
      Then one inning later, senior OF/3B Kace Naone belted his first grand slam as a Blazer. 
      Utah Tech's three grands slams in its first 13 game to begin this season also matched the total the Blazers hit in their first 13 games last season. 
      Utah Tech has now belted at least three grand slams in a season seven times, including in their first D-I season in 2021, though it took them 52 games to do it. Utah Tech also did it four times in the D-II era (2009/2010/2011/2016). 
 
WALK IT OFF: Glasgow became the first Trailblazer slugger in just over 10 years to end a game with a walk-off grand slam, doing so in the series finale vs. Northern Colorado back on March 1.
      Glasgow finished the day with a career-high five RBI to go with his first home run as a Trailblazer. The senior is currently one of two Trailblazer sluggers to have driven in five runs in a game this season (McDaniel at CSU Bakersfield - 2/18). 
      The senior's walk-off homer came just over 10 years to-the-day of Utah Tech's last walk-off grand slam. Former Blazer Division II All-American Tanner Morache was the last to achieve the feat, doing so in a 9-6, 10-inning home victory over Saint Martin's (2/21/16).
 
WALK THIS WAY: Utah Tech was issued a season-high 15 walks by UNLV pitching in last Sunday's road win in Las Vegas. Utah Tech batters were also plunked four times that afternoon, and the Blazers were able to turn three of those HBPs, and two of the walks, into runs in the 11-1 run-rule victory.
      Utah Tech was issued a season-high 38 free passes - 28 walks and 10 HBPs, in its series vs. Austin Peay three weeks ago. Utah Tech is currently tied for 37th-nationally in walks drawn with 140 through 25 games (5.6 BB/game), and t-47th in Division I in HBPs with 46 (1.84 HBP/g). 
 
K-MAC STARTS A NEW STREAK: McDaniel saw his school NCAA-era record streak of reaching base safely end at 58-straight games after he was held off the base paths in the series opener at Santa Clara back on March 13.
      Since then he has reached base safely in seven-straight, including a current six-game hit streak that featured consecutive three-hit outings in the home sweep of Fresno State last week.
      McDaniel homered and tied a career high with five RBI and two runs scored in the opener vs. FSU (3/19), and legged out two doubles with an RBI and one run in the finale (3/20).   
      McDaniel's record streak began last season with a 3-for-5 day at the plate at Portland (2/28/25). In fact, McDaniel recorded at least one base hit in 47 of those 58 games with 24 multi-hit outings over that stretch.  
      The junior's on-base streak also featured a school record 22-game hit streak, which was halted in the Blazers' series opener vs. Northern Colorado (2/27). 
      McDaniel, who entered the 2026 campaign as the 12th-rated second baseman by D1Baseball.com, has drawn 20 walks in his 25 starts this season, which leads the WAC and ranks him t-90th nationally.
      McDaniel was named WAC Player of the Week on Feb. 23, after  he batted a combined .389 (7-for-18) out of the lead-off spot over the final four games of Utah Tech's season-opening, eight-game California road swing. He collected two extra base hits, six RBI, two stolen bases and two runs scored.
 
KROEPEL CREATING PLENTY OF PRESEASON BUZZ: Junior 3B/RHP Ryan Kroepel also enjoyed quite the lead-up heading into his second season as a Trailblazer.  
      Kroepel was tabbed WAC Preseason Player of the Year and was voted to the conference's all-preseason team at both third base and at reliever.
      Kroepel also began the season ranked as the 18th-rated third baseman by D1Baseball.com, and has been included on both the 2026 NCBWA Stopper of the Year and John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award watch lists.
 
NUMBER TWO NATIONALLY IN SAVING THE DAY: Utah Tech's bullpen has recorded saves in eight of the team's 13 victories this season, led by Kroepel, who notched his sixth save of the season (T-2nd in the nation) in the series opener vs. Austin Peay (3/5). He then picked up his first victory of the season the APSU series finale (3/7). 
      Kroepel, who earned WAC Pitcher of the Week honors last month (2/16), is already ranked fifth in program history with 14 career saves. In addition, he has retired 39 of the 53 batters he has faced, including 11 on strikes, over his 13.0 innings of work in eight appearance this season. 
      Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore RHP Easton Brooks recorded his first collegiate save after he tossed three spotless innings at CSU Bakersfield (2/18). Brooks struck out a career high six in that outing, while nine of his 19 career strikeouts overall have come vs. CSUB, including three Ks last season (3/13/25).
      Senior LHP Brock Roundy followed suit in the Pacific finale (2/21), during which he hurled 1.2 innings of spotless relief to earn his first save as a Trailblazer. Roundy also earned the decision in the CSU Bakersfield win after he struck out three in 3.0 innings of one-run, three-hit relief.
 
KROEPEL EARNS NATIONAL HONOR: Kroepel was named the national John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Week on March 10 for his efforts in the Trailblazers' home series split with Austin Peay. 
      Along with picking up a win and a save in that series, the junior batted .267 (4-for-15) in four starts with three RBI, four runs scored, six walks and one stolen base. Two of his three RBI in the series came via a clutch two-run home run that helped propel the Trailblazers to a 15-11 victory in the series opener (3/5).
 
SOTO JR. STAYS HOT: Junior SS Petey Soto Jr. is on an absolute tear batting in the nine-hole of the Trailblazer line-up. Soto Jr. has hit safely in 15 of his last 19 starts and is hitting at a .442 clip (27-for-61) over that stretch with a combined eight XBHs and 17 RBI.
      Soto Jr. batted an even .500 (6-for-12) in the Northern Colorado series with two doubles and five RBI, three of which came on his first homer of the season in the eighth inning of game three.  
      Soto Jr., who is t-second in the WAC in doubles (10) and fourth in the conference in batting (.395) through 25 games, recorded a pair of three-hit and three-RBI in Utah Tech's four games vs. the Mountain West Conference last weekend. 
      He went 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs in the opener vs. Fresno State (3/19), and followed that with three more hits and three more RBI in the win at UNLV last Sunday to extend his current team-leading, on-base streak to a career-high 18-straight games. 
 
TRAILBLAZER QUICK HITS 
* - McDaniel batted a team-high .571 (8-for-14) in the UCR series with one double, two RBI and a team-highs of eight runs scored and six walks out of the lead-off spot. 
* - McDaniel has pounded out at least two hits in 10 of his 25 starts this season out of the lead-off spot, which includes a 3-for-6 day with his first five-RBI day of the season at CSU Bakersfield (2/18). 
* - McDaniel went 2-for-5 in the series finale at Santa Clara (3/15), highlighted by his third homer of the season on the very first pitch of the game ... McDaniel's lead-off homer at SCU came nearly 23 months after his first one, which he clubbed at home vs. Abilene Christian (4/27/24) during his freshman year in 2024.
* - McDaniel's solo shot at SCU was the first of three first-inning solo HRs Utah Tech recorded to begin the game ... Kroepel belted a solo shot two batters later, which was followed two batters later by a Miller Durham blast. 
* - Utah Tech's three-homer inning was the first since the Trailblazers hit three of its five home runs in third inning in a home win over Wichita State (2/22/23) during the 2023 season.
* - Kroepel followed that with his team-leading fifth homer, a two-run first inning shot, in the first inning of Utah Tech's home loss to BYU (3/17), which was part of a 3-for-4 night with a walk and two runs scored.
* - Kroepel heads into the weekend riding a six-game hit streak, which includes a 2-for-3 day with two walks and three RBI in the UNLV win last Sunday.  
* - Meanwhile Durham also homered for the third-straight game, doing so with a first inning solo shot vs. Fresno State (3/19) ... Durham went 2-for-2 at the plate before coming out of the game due to a minor injury ... Durham missed the final three games of the weekend, though he is slated to return to the line-up this weekend at SIU.  
* - Durham enjoyed a solid Trailblazer debut in the UCR series during which he batted .400 in the UCR series (6-for-15) with four RBI and three runs. 
* - Durham also hit .400 (6-for-15) in the UNCO series with three XBHs, including his second homer of the season, along with five RBI, three runs and a stolen base. 
* - Senior catcher Ty Johnsen legged out three doubles in three games at UCR, including a pair of two-baggers in the series finale (2/15) ... he batted an even .500 in the UCR series overall with two RBI and three runs scored. 
* - Johnsen has hit safely in each of his last five starts, including a pair of two-hit games in the Fresno State sweep last week, highlighted by two doubles in last Friday's extra inning game. 
* - Sophomore OF Finnegan Stewart, who already has a pair of three-RBI games through his first 21 games, now has a career-best four RBI day under his belt ... Stewart drove in four runs in G3 vs. UNCO thanks to a career-high four hits, highlighted by a three-run, third-inning HR.
* - Stewart also belted a walk-off two-run homer in the last Friday's finale vs. Fresno State. 
* - Junior RHP Jackson Price made his first start of the season in the opener vs. APSU (3/4), against which he scattered one earned run (4 total) and three hits with four strikeouts over 3.1 innings ... he made his Trailblazer debut in G3 of the UNCO series (2/28), during which he tossed two spotless innings with three strikeouts.  
* - Fellow senior RHP Dakoda West tied a career high with eight strikeouts over 4.2 innings at UNLV last Saturday night ... the senior also fanned eight over 6.2 IP in his G3 start vs. APSU (3/6) ... West chased that with another solid start at Santa Clara (3/14), where he fanned three and surrendered only two runs and six hits over 5.2 IP. 
* - Junior RHP Brandon Kosel enjoyed a banner afternoon at UNLV last Sunday, against which he struck out a season high six and ran his record to 2-0 on the season. 
* - Kosel held the nation's 14-ranked scoring offense to only four total hits over five scoreless innings ... after surrendering two Rebel base hits in the home first, Kosel retired 11-straight, and 12 of the next 13 Rebel hitters he faced. 
* - Kosel struck out a Utah Tech career-high five and allowed only two runs and one hit over 5.2 innings in the series finale at Santa Clara (3/15). 
* - Kosel turned in a great start in his Blazer debut at UCR (2/15) with 6.1 innings of three-hit shutout baseball with four strikeouts in an 8-1 victory.
* - Sophomore reliever Talan Kelly earned his staff-high fourth win of the season (4-0) in the Fresno State finale last Friday night ... Kelly also collected a win in relief in the UNCO series finale a week earlier (3/1) ... the righthander went 1-0 and struck out five over 2.1 innings in two relief appearances in that series, which helped him earn WAC Pitcher of the Week honors (3/2). 
* - Thanks to Kelly's four decisions and Kroepel's win vs. APSU (3/7), nine of Utah Tech's 16 pitching decisions have been recorded by the Blazer bullpen ... senior RHP Aaron Morris picked up his first win of the year after working 1.1 innings in G3 vs. UNCO (2/28).
* - Morris, who is ranked fifth in program history in appearances (56), was credited with his first start as the opener vs. BYU (3/17), against which he struck out two in two innings of one-hit work. 
* - Senior RHP Ryan Martinez collected his second win out of the Blazer bullpen in G1 vs. Fresno State (3/19) ... Martinez also earned the decision in the series clinching win at Pacific (2/21).   
 
NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Utah Tech wraps up its Midwest trip with a Monday night match-up at Saint Louis. First pitch at the Billiken Sports Center is set for 5 p.m. (MT).