ST. GEORGE — Sean Keating’s one-out single in the bottom of the ninth lifted Utah Tech to a wild 10-9 walk-off victory over in-state rival BYU on Tuesday night at Bruce Hurst Field.
With the win, the Trailblazers closed their season-opening 13-game homestand with a 5-8 record on the baseball diamond.
According to a news release, the win looked like it was not in the cards as the Cougars (4-8) scored six first-inning runs, only to see the Blazers follow suit with six runs of their own in their first swings to reset the game.
In all, the two teams combined to score 12 runs on four hits, one error, eight walks, two hit batters, three wild pitches, one passed ball, two pitching changes and 19 total plate appearances in a 47-minute opening frame.
The Trailblazers rapped out seven hits on the night, with Blake Borgogno collecting two of those safeties to go with an RBI and two runs scored. Junior righthander Brett Porthan (W, 2-1), who appeared out of the bullpen for the first time this season, earned his second-straight decision after he pitched a spotless ninth inning.
Sunday
S. Dakota State 14, Utah Tech 9
Utah Tech could not dig itself out of an early-inning hole as the Trailblazers dropped the final game of their four-game series to South Dakota State, 14-9.
As was the case the entire series, the Trailblazers found themselves playing from behind as the Jackrabbits struck for four first-inning runs on their way to a 7-0 lead midway through the ball game.
Meanwhile, SDSU starter Blake Kunz was effectively wild as he kept Utah Tech hitless and struck out six Blazers through four scoreless innings. However, he did walk seven during that stretch, including the first two Trailblazers he faced to open the home half of the fifth.
Trailing 11-2 after the seventh-inning stretch, Utah Tech finally cracked the hit column with a clean Zach Thomas lead-off single to left. That hit seemed to wake up the Blazer offense as UT sent 11 batters to the plate and scored five runs on four hits to get back into the game.
Saturday
Utah Tech 12, S. Dakota State 6
S. Dakota State 7, Utah Tech 2
Utah Tech split the middle two games of its four-game home series with South Dakota State on Saturday afternoon. The Trailblazers doubled up SDSU in the first game, 12-6 in seven innings, while the Jackrabbits broke through in the series with a 7-2 win in the nightcap.
As they did in Friday’s series opener, the Blazers found themselves in an early hole as SDSU struck for three first-inning runs. And like Friday’s opener, Utah Tech would respond in its first at-bats, scoring four runs to jump out in front after one inning complete.
Utah Tech (4-7) wasted little time loading the bases with walks to Bryker Hurdsman and Tyson Fisher, which bracketed Shane Taylor and Chase Rodriguez, who followed with a single to right to chase home two of the base runners, while Parker Schmidt laid down a safety squeeze to plate Fisher carrying the tying run.
The start of the nine-inning nightcap bucked the trend set in the first two games of the series as both teams went scoreless through the first two innings.
That would change in a hurry in the SDSU third when the Jackrabbits took advantage of a pair of costly two-out Blazer errors to plate four runs and race out to a commanding lead. Utah Tech would get two of those runs back in the home third with a two-out, two-run Fisher double.
SDSU matched that with two more runs an inning later and would push across an insurance run in the eighth. Meanwhile, three Jackrabbit pitchers would limit Utah Tech to just three hits from the fourth inning on as SDSU would salvage the series split.
Senior hurler Jake Dahle (L, 0-2) struck out a season-high six over his four innings of work but was saddled with the loss after the rough third inning.
Click the links for box scores for Game 1 and Game 2.
Friday
Utah Tech 17, S. Dakota State 7
Utah Tech started the four-game series by hitting three home runs and used two big offensive innings to knock off South Dakota State 17-7 in seven innings.
After giving up two two-out Jackrabbit runs to begin the afternoon, the Trailblazers answered with eight two-out runs of their own to bolt out to an early 8-2 advantage.
Fisher belted an 0-1 pitch over the left field wall to put Utah Tech on the board. And the next nine Trailblazer batters all reached base safely, using five hits, three walks and a hit batter after the Fisher homer to put an eight-spot on the scoreboard.
Utah Tech tacked on two more runs in the third on an Ethan He lead-off homer and a Fisher RBI single. Then after SDSU struck for two runs in the fourth, the Blazers put the game out of reach with a six-run fifth inning.
Utah Tech will hit the road for the first time this season as the Trailblazers head to Stillwater for a four-game weekend series at No. 13 Oklahoma State.
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