The Utah Tech Baseball team hosted Brigham Young University for the first time this season March 7, and the Blazers showed they are more than capable of hanging at the top with the best of them.
The Cougars were first up to bat in this matchup and exploded with a 6-0 lead after just 11 at-bats. The Blazers then stepped up, tying the game with six runs of their own to finish the inning.
The first inning of this game was a constant back and forth between the two teams; a battle of wills that resulted in a single inning lasting almost an entire hour.
The game’s score stayed at a standstill for the next five innings until BYU broke through with one run at the top of the sixth. Once again, the Trailblazers clapped back with two runs of their own to take the 8-7 lead.
Bryker Hurdsman, a freshman general studies major from St. George, was called out after he popped a fly ball into center field, but also allowed Ethan He, a sophomore exercise science major from Riverton, to score a run.
BYU wasn’t done. They put players on base after some wild pitches and walked batters, allowing them to tally up two more runs by the end of the seventh.
Utah Tech wasn’t finished either. Levi Randall, a freshman accounting major from Enterprise, was put on base after a slurry of wild pitches, putting him in scoring position at third base. He then ran to home plate after Sean Keating, a redshirt senior majoring in business management from South Jordan, was walked.
With the game tied 9-9 in the bottom of the ninth, Keating nailed the ball to deep center field, allowing time for Chase Rodriguez, a junior sociology major from Las Vegas, to score the walk-off run, giving the Blazers the 10-9 victory over BYU.
The Trailblazers baseball team ended its first 3-game home stand last night and now head on the road to play their first series away from Bruce Hurst field.
They take on Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, March 10 at 6 p.m.
