Behind 15 hits and six solid innings from senior righthander Dakoda West, Utah Tech evened its WAC weekend series at California Baptist at a game apiece on the strength of a 10-1 victory on a rainy Saturday night at Totman Stadium.
 
After surrendering the Lancers' lone run in the second inning, the Trailblazers (28-15/6-2 WAC) scored 10-unanswered runs for the third inning on.
 
Petey Soto Jr. got the scoring started on the first pitch of the third when he ambushed a Bryan Peck (L, 5-1) fastball and sent it over the left center field wall to tie the game at 1-1.
 
Utah Tech took the lead for good four batters later when Miller Durham split the left center gap for his second double of the night. Durham's two-bagger chased home Ryan Kroepel all the way from first base after he reached on a two-out walk. 
 
The Blazers nursed its one-run lead through to the sixth inning when Kace Naone ripped a one-out single to center field to chase home pinch runner Hudson Manwaring to stake his side to a 3-1 advantage.
 
Utah Tech then blew the game open with three runs in the seventh, and four more tallies in the eighth. 
 
The Trailblazers scored all three seventh inning runs with two outs in the frame, the first of which came home on a Ty Johnsen RBI-single. Then with runners on the corners, Johnsen broke for second, while Manwaring raced for home as Utah Tech pulled off the double steal.
 
Johnsen later scored the third run of the frame on Naone's second run-scoring hit in as many innings.
 
Utah Tech followed that up with three more RBI singles in the eighth from Mays Madsen, Kroepel and Johnsen.
 
Meanwhile West (W, 5-3) retired seven of the next nine Lancers after CBU (32-11/6-5 WAC) pushed across its lone run in the home second.
 
CBU had a chance to tie or take the lead in the fifth after Eric Ruiz led off the stanza with a double. However West bore down and escaped the jam by recording two of his four strikeouts he had on the night to end the threat. 
 
West gave way to the Blazer bullpen in the seventh, and the duo of Talan Kelly and Ryan Martinez combined to hold CBU hitless over the final three innings to close out the victory.
 
Kelly tied a career high with four strikeouts over his two innings, while Martinez needed only 12 pitches to navigate his way through a spotless ninth.
 
Durham led the Utah Tech hit parade with three hits, while Johnsen went 2-for-4 with three RBI. Kroepel, Naone and Soto Jr. also tallied three hits apiece as nine different Trailblazers recorded at least on safety on the night. 
 
Meanwhile Soto Jr.'s third-inning homer, his fourth of the year, extended his career long hit streak to 16-straight games, and his on-base streak to a career high 36-straight games. 
 
Saturday night's victory also marked Utah Tech head coach Chris Pfatenhauer's 700^th-game as Trailblazer skipper (379-320-1). 
 
Utah Tech will look to clinch the series win in the rubber game of the three-game WAC set on Sunday beginning at 1:05 p.m. (MT).