RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Down 12-3 with only two more frames to put up runs, the Dixie State baseball team reached down and pulled several rabbits out of the hat to post a 14-12 win over the Cal Baptist Lancers in game one of their doubleheader at CBU. The Trailblazers followed that up with a somewhat anticlimactic win in the nightcap, 6-3.
GAME ONE
DSU 14, CBU 12
The Lancers put up three runs in the first two innings. DSU got on the board in the third. Trey Reineke started the scoring with a home run to right field. Tyler Baker drew a walk and was doubled in later by Drew McLaughlin. Logan Porter would later single to advance McLaughlin to third. McLaughlin was then batted in by Trey Kamachi on a single to right field. Before the inning ended, the score was tied 3-3.
But in the bottom of the third, Cal Baptist put up three more. The Lancers then held the Trailblazers’ bats silent over the next four innings while they put up six more runs. Going into the eighth down 12-3, DSU’s prospects for victory were looking bleak.
The eighth started with Porter drawing a walk. Kamachi then singled to center field. After the next batter struck out, Wyatt Branch singled to center field to load the bases. Reineke then returned to the plate. During his at-bat, Porter scored on a wild pitch. Reineke then hit his second extra-base hit of the night with a double to right field, scoring Branch and Kamachi and making it 12-6. Reece Lucero then drew the second walk of the inning.
After the Lancers made a pitching change, the two runners did a double steal to get to second and third. Baker then singled to the pitcher and advanced to second on a throwing error. That hit scored Lucero and Reineke and it was 12-8.
The Lancers then got the second out on a groundout that moved Baker to third. Tyler Mildenberg then got aboard after getting hit by a pitch. Porter got his second at-bat of the inning with a single up the middle to score Baker. Kamachi then singled up the middle to score Mildenberg and it was 12-10.
The Lancers made yet another pitching change – to no avail – as Jake Engel singled to right field to score Porter. The final run of the inning came with Kamachi crossing the plate on a wild pitch. The Blazers put up nine runs to even the score, 12-12.
After holding the Lancers scoreless in the bottom of the eighth, Baker was the first man on base after he looked at four straight balls. He then stole second. The Lancers made their fifth pitching change of the game.
McLaughlin drew a walk. The two runners then advanced on a wild pitch. Mildenberg then struck out for the second out.
Porter came to the plate with two outs and two men in scoring position with the score tied. He struck out swinging on a wild pitch and then made it to first safely. Baker scored on the play. Kamachi and Engel then drew walks to put McLaughlin across. The Lancers made their sixth and final pitching change and retired the final batter to get out of the inning.
DSU relief pitcher Tyler Burdett retired the last three batters to close out the game and the win for the Blazers. Burdett collected the win. Kamachi led the team with four hits. Baker, Porter and Reineke also collected multiple hits. Reineke led the team with three RBIs.
GAME TWO
DSU 6, CBU 3
Dixie State put up four runs in the fourth. That was all that was needed in the lower-scoring nightcap.
The Blazers scored first in the second inning. Mildenberg scored on a Miles Bice single to right field. CBU went ahead 2-1 on a two-run single in the bottom of the third.
The Blazers did not wait as long to come back in the second game. Jake Davison began the fourth with a single to left center. Bice then reached on a fielder’s choice. Branch then singled to put two runners on base. Reineke singled to score Bice and tie the game.
Baker then walked to load the bases. McLaughlin then doubled to left center to score Reineke and Branch. Later in the inning, Kamachi sacrificed Baker in for the final run and a DSU 5-2 lead.
The Lancers scored one in the bottom of the fourth, but DSU added another insurance run in the sixth inning with a Porter double that scored McLaughlin. Reliever Jose Rosales-Rodarte got the win from the mound. Sean Hardman got the save. McLaughlin, Davison and Branch all recorded multiple hits.
Though not as exciting as game one, the win gave DSU a 3-0 series lead over Cal Baptist. The Blazers improve to 10-5 overall and 9-2 in the PacWest, grabbing sole possession of second place. CBU falls to third with a 16-9 overall record and 7-4 in the PacWest.
The two teams will conclude their series with a noon (Pacific Time) game Saturday at James W. Totman Field in Riverside.
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