Kyle McDaniel homered, tripled and drove in a career-high six runs, all part of a season high 18-run barrage, as Utah Tech came away with an 18-8 run-rule victory in seven innings over visiting Washington State on Wednesday night at Bruce Hurst Field.
 
Utah Tech (23-14/2-1 WAC) led wire-to-wire and scored runs in six of its seven offensive frames.
 
The run parade got going in the home first thanks to four-straight, two-out walks, the last of which was drawn by Finnegan Stewart, who picked up the first of his career-high tying four RBI on the night.
 
Mays Madsen then stepped up and cleared the bases with an opposite field double off the wall in left field to spot the Trailblazers with a 4-0 advantage.
 
The Blazers stretched their lead to 5-0 an inning later when Petey Soto Jr. ambushed a 1-0 Dillon O'Neil fastball and sent it well over the batter's eye in straight-away center field for his third home run of the season.
 
Washington State (19-18) clapped back with a pair of runs in the third, only to see Utah Tech answer with two more tallies in the home half, which came on a run-scoring wild pitch and a Madsen sacrifice flyout.
 
After the Cougars again plated two runs in the fourth to trim the Blazer lead to 7-4, Utah Tech blew the game open with nine unanswered runs to bolt to a commanding 16-4 lead after six innings complete.
 
Utah Tech scored five of those runs in the fifth, when with the bases loaded one run already in, McDaniel belted his fifth homer, and his second grand slam, of the season, an opposite field blast over the left field wall.
 
McDaniel became the first Trailblazer in the program's NCAA Division I era to hit two grand slams in a season, while his slam was also Utah Tech's school record sixth of the year, all of which have come at home. 
 
The junior second baseman struck again one inning later with his second career triple, a two-run three-bagger to right center that capped a four-run frame and pushed the Blazer lead to double digits.
 
Utah Tech had a chance to close out the game in the WSU seventh, but the Cougars managed to stave off the ending, albeit briefly, with four runs to extend the game through the stretch.
 
The Trailblazers quickly put the game on ice when with the bases loaded and no outs, Stewart doubled high off the center field wall to drive in the final two runs needed to close out the win.
 
Utah Tech outhit WSU 11-7, while the Blazers were also the beneficiaries of 11 walks and four hit batters by Cougar pitching.
 
McDaniel wound up going 2-for-4 at the plate, while both Madsen and Stewart went 2-for-2 with a walk and four RBI apiece. Madsen's four runs driven in were also a career high.
 
In addition, Miller Durham collected two hits and a season-high three runs, and Ty Johnsen drew a career best four walks and tied a career high with four runs scored.  
 
Senior righthander Ryan Martinez (W, 4-1) was credited with his fourth win of the season out of the Blazer bullpen after he fired 2.1 innings of one-hit scoreless relief with one strikeout.

Utah Tech returns to Western Athletic Conference play this weekend with a three-game road series at in-state rival Utah Valley.