Dixie State University fell to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, after the first ever matchup between the teams Wednesday.
After ending the first inning down two runs, the Trailblazers struggled to catch the Rebels.
Senior third baseman Arista Honey got the Trailblazers on the board with an RBI single in the top of the second inning.
DSU held UNLV at two until the Rebels added a home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Then senior outfielder Shelby Yung answered by hitting an RBI single to close the gap to 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth.
The Trailblazers had a chance to come back but failed to do so after leaving two runners on base in the top of the seventh.
“We want to win, and we feel like we should have won,” head coach Randy Simkins said. “We left some opportunities out there where we didn’t cash in on runs, and we should have.”
Junior outfielder Janessa Bassett, a biology major from Stansbury Park, said this game was good for the team because they got to see some better pitching, but DSU could have won if the team played a bit cleaner.
“The first inning was not our best,” Bassett said. “We had a couple of errors that would have made a difference. We also had situations where we had runners on base, and we didn’t execute.”
Eight of DSU’s last 12 games are against the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the Pacific West conference, so these games will determine who wins the conference title.
“Our plan is to handle the next eight games the way we’ve handled the last couple conference games,” said sophomore catcher Jessica Gonzalez, a general studies major from Kingsburg, California. “[By] winning every inning and pushing runners across by executing plays the way we know how.”
Gonzalez said as long as the team continues to hit well, stick to only giving its opponents three outs an inning by making routine plays on defense, and capitalizing on any mistakes they may make, then the odds should be in the Trailblazers’ favor.
DSU’s record is now 30-9, and its next game will be at home against Notre Dame de Namur University Saturday at noon an 2 p.m.
