Utah Tech used clutch hitting and late game heroics to rally for a 7-6 victory in 10 innings over Austin Peay on Saturday afternoon at Bruce Hurst Field.
The win clinched a split of the four-game weekend series with APSU and moved the Trailblazers to 13-3 overall.
A day after the Governors (7-8) used a ninth-inning rally to force extra innings and win game two of the series, the Trailblazers flipped the script with a ninth inning rally of their own in the finale.
Down 6-3 with three outs to work with, the first three Trailblazer batters managed to reach base to kick-start the rally.
Gavin Long singled to center to open the frame, and after he took second on a wild pitch,
Hudson Manwaring reached on an APSU infield error, which put runners on the corners with nobody out.
Manwaring later stole second, and both base runners eventually came around to score on a
Petey Soto Jr. single to left field that pulled Utah Tech to within a run at 6-5.
Soto Jr., who took second on throw home on the play, advanced to third on a passed ball one pitch later and would score the game-tying run on a
Kyle McDaniel sacrifice fly out.
Austin Peay its chances to reclaim the lead in the 10
th, loading the bases with two outs on Blazer closer
Ryan Kroepel (W, 1-0). However the junior hurler bore down and induced a Zion Taylor flyball out to keep the game knotted at 6-6.
With one on and one out the Blazer 10
th,
Andrew Pyle lined a single to right field, which allowed pinch runner
Gavin Grutzmacher to go first-to-third on the play.
Gavin Long then hit a sharp grounder to the Govs second baseman Kyler Proctor, who fired the ball to the plate.
However Grutzmacher was able to avoid the tag with a head-first slide to score the game-winning run.
Soto Jr. and Long each finished with three hits and two RBI to lead the Utah Tech offense, which rapped out 10 hits on the afternoon.
Utah Tech will now play 10 of its next 13 March games on the road, beginning with a midweek date at in-state rival BYU this upcoming Tuesday afternoon in Provo. First pitch at Miller Park is set for 3:05 p.m. (MT).
