Utah Tech saw furious late-inning rally felled by a game-ending controversial call as the Trailblazers dropped the first game of their three-game weekend series to visiting Azusa Pacific, 11-8, on Friday night at Bruce Hurst Field.
 
The Trailblazers were stifled over the first seven innings of the night, during which they stranded 11 baserunners offensively and committed three costly errors.
 
Meanwhile APU (23-21) scored runs in six of its first seven offensive frames and rapped out 11 hits as the Cougars enjoyed a commanding 11-2 advantage.
 
Utah Tech (20-13/2-1 WAC) got up off the deck in the home eighth, when with the bases loaded and no outs, pinch hitter Cooper Smith unloaded them with his second home run of the season that cut the deficit to 11-6.
 
Andrew Pyle drew a walk to begin the inning, while Petey Soto Jr. and Kyle McDaniel both singled ahead of Smith, who ambushed a 1-0 Aiden Franco fastball and sent it over the left center field wall for Utah Tech's school record fifth grand slam of the season.
 
The Trailblazers were not done when with two on and one out, Ty Johnsen singled home Ryan Kroepel carrying the fifth run of the rally. Utah Tech would again load the bases later in the inning and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs. 
 
However Cougar reliever Doug Pyle induced an inning-ending flyout to send the game to the ninth.
 
After retiring APU in order to start the ninth, Utah Tech once again loaded the bases with no outs to bring the tying run to the plate.
 
McDaniel led off the frame with his second double of the night, while Smith was plunked and Kroepel singled.
 
Gavin Long then stepped up and laced a single to right field to chase home McDaniel and cut the Cougar lead to three.
 
That brought up Blazer first baseman Miller Durham, who drove a 1-2 pitch to the wall in left center field. 
 
APU outfielder Noah Lane made an over-the-shoulder catch at the wall and fired the ball back to the infield.
 
Meanwhile, all three Blazer baserunners safely tagged up on the play and advanced 90 feet, with Smith apparently scoring from third to pull Utah Tech to within two runs at 11-9.
 
However the APU infielders challenged that neither Utah Tech base runner had tagged up before advancing, and they appealed at both second and third base.
 
The umpiring crew agreed and ruled that neither of the three Blazer runners had tagged up on the play, resulting in a game-ending 8-4-5 triple play.
 
And although video broadcast replay clearly showed that all three baserunners did indeed tag up and advance safely, the use of instant replay was not part of the ground rules for the game, which ended with APU escaping with the victory. 
 
Utah Tech lost despite outhitting APU 16-11, though the Trailblazers wound up stranding 15 runners on the base paths overall. 
 
McDaniel tied career highs with four hits and two doubles to go with three runs scored out of the lead-off spot. Durham collected two hits and drove in a pair of runs, while Hudson Manwaring, Long and Johnsen each tallied two hits apiece.
 
The two teams will play the middle game of their three-game weekend series on Saturday afternoon beginning at 2:05 p.m. (MT).