Dixie State University baseball suffered some heartbreaking losses over the weekend.
The No. 9 ranked Trailblazers hosted the No. 8 ranked Colorado Mesa University Mavericks for a four-game series. DSU managed one win but lost the other three, two of which in the final inning.
“We want to be able to split the series or even win it against these guys, and we didn’t,” head coach Chris Pfatenhauer said. “We’re not where we want to be and are going to spend this next week getting better.”
Friday doubleheader
Senior outfielder Miles Bice carried the load for DSU’s offense going 4-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Five other Trailblazers recorded at least two hits in a game that saw DSU record 17 total hits.
Junior pitcher Dylan File took the hill for DSU and threw five and 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits. The Trailblazers’ defense committed two errors during the game as well.
It was a back-and-forth game throughout. DSU tied the game at seven in the bottom of the eighth which sent the game into extra innings. Each team scored one run in their halves of the 11th inning before CMU plated two in the 12th, giving it the victory, 10-8.
The second game was DSU’s lone win and the lowest scoring game of the series. Redshirt senior second baseman Drew McLaughlin and redshirt senior outfielder Trey Kamachi were the only Trailblazers with multiple hits.
Junior pitcher Matt Mosca earned his second victory of the year from the mound as he threw five innings and allowed only one run.
The Trailblazers blistered the Mavericks in the third inning as they pushed across four runs. After adding another run in the fourth, DSU ran away with the win, 5-2.
“[CMU] is a good team, but we are just as good,” said redshirt junior first baseman Logan Porter, from Surprise, Arizona. “We will see these guys again down the road.”
Saturday
The Mavericks ran away with the third game of the series, winning 13-2. DSU scored runs in the fifth and the eighth, but a six-run sixth inning for CMU proved too much for the Trailblazers.
Redshirt senior designated hitter Ryan Rodriguez went 3-4 in the losing effort for DSU.
Senior pitcher Mason Hilty suffered his first loss of the season after allowing seven runs and 10 hits in five and 1/3 innings pitched.
Sunday
The final game of the series was a true nail bitter. Tied at four through five innings, CMU took the advantage in the sixth with a run. DSU countered with two runs in the eighth to take a 6-5 lead.
A single and an error in the top of the ninth put runners on first and second for the Mavericks with two outs. A double brought home both runs and CMU retook the lead 7-6 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Three walks loaded the bases for the Trailblazers with zero outs, but DSU was unable to capitalize. Two strikeouts and a fly out to the catcher nixed the Trailblazers’ chances of splitting the series.
11 of DSU’s 15 hits in the game came from the first five batters in the lineup led by redshirt sophomore infielder Bryce Feist, who went 3-3 with an RBI.
“This one hurts,” said Feist, a business administration major from Emmett, Idaho. “A lot of things lead up to having a one-run game at the end. There were a lot of mistakes we made early that we could have avoided.”
At 5-3 on the season, DSU will play host to Concordia University of Oregon Friday at 3:30 p.m. followed by a matchup with Saint Martin’s University the same day at 7 p.m. at Bruce Hurst Field.
