Thanks to seasons highs of 22 runs and 25 hits, Utah Tech opened its final Western Athletic Conference series with a hard-fought 22-12 victory in eight innings over visiting Abilene Christian on Thursday night at Bruce Hurst Field.
The Trailblazers (31-22/8-8 WAC) broke open a 2-2 game with a seven-run second inning to bolt out to a commanding 9-2 lead.
Utah Tech sent 11 batters to the plate in that frame and pounded out seven hits, with the big blow coming on a towering three-run home run off the bat of
Miller Durham.
However the Blazers could not completely put ACU (25-27/8-8 WAC) away as the Wildcats managed to trim the Utah Tech lead to 14-10 at the seventh inning stretch.
The Trailblazers managed to up their lead to 17-10 in the home seventh, thanks in large part to a two-out, two-run
Kyle McDaniel single.
ACU answered with two runs in the eighth, but Utah Tech countered with five more runs in its half of the stanza, two of which came on a
Ty Johnsen two-run single, which made it a 20-12 game.
Then with the bases loaded and one out, McDaniel laced a double to center field to chase home the final two runs needed to end the game via the 10-run rule.
Every Trailblazer hitter in the starting line-up had at least one base hit and scored one run, while nine different Utah Tech batters drove in at least one run.
McDaniel led the way with a career-high, and school-record tying, five hits out of the lead-off spot and co-led the team with four RBI to go with three runs scored. McDaniel (204) also became just the fifth player in program history to reach the 200 career hit plateau.
Ryan Kroepel, who drilled a two-run homer in the first inning, went 3-for-5 with two RBI and a career-high four runs scored. In addition, Kroepel tied the program's single-season record for HBPs as he was plunked for the 16
th time on the year in the second inning.
Durham also collected three hits, including his team-high eighth homer of the year, and drove in a season high four runs, while
Finnegan Stewart,
Gavin Long and
Petey Soto Jr. each had three hits and an RBI.
Meanwhile Johnsen tied a career high with four RBI to go with two hits and two runs, and
Mays Madsen tallied two hits and tied a career high with three runs scored.
Aaron Morris (W, 2-0) struck out a game-high three in 2.1 innings of relief to earn the decision out of the Utah Tech bullpen.
The two teams will play the middle game of their three-game WAC weekend series on Friday night beginning at 6:05 p.m. (MT).
