Utah Tech opened its first-ever road series east of the Mississippi River on a sour note as the Trailblazers were handed their first shutout loss of the season at Southern Illinois, 10-0 in seven innings, on Friday night at Itchy Jones Stadium.
 
The Trailblazers (16-10/0-0 WAC) found themselves in a 4-0 hole after six innings complete. 
 
SIU (10-14) struck for a pair of two-out runs in the third, then took advantage of a two-out Blazer error in the fifth to push across another tally. The Salukis stretched their lead to 4-0 in the sixth on a wild pitch, which allowed a run to score all the way from second base. 
 
Meanwhile Utah Tech was limited to only five singles over its first six offensive frames. 
 
However the Trailblazers had a chance to break through in the seventh with runners on second and third and two outs after Ty Johnsen singled and took third on a Finnegan Stewart double.
 
Unfortunately Utah Tech came up empty as SIU starter Andrew Evans (W, 4-1) induced an inning-ending groundout to send the game to the stretch.
 
SIU then put the game on ice with a six-run home seventh to cinch away the series-opening victory. 
 
Utah Tech mustered only seven hits in defeat, with Johnsen and Stewart leading the way with two hits apiece.  
 
The two teams will play the middle game of their three-game weekend series on Saturday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. (MT).