RIVERSIDE, Calif. – One day after Dixie State completed a huge comeback to beat Cal Baptist, the Lancers reciprocated with a comeback of their own in the series finale. CBU scored six runs in the final two innings to take a 10-9 win over the Trailblazers.
Dixie State still wins the series 3-1. The loss by DSU follows a pattern as neither team has swept the other in their rivaled history in the PacWest. In the last few years, the visiting team has taken three out of four in the series.
The Trailblazers were the initial aggressors in this game. In the first inning, DSU got hits from the first six at-bats. Drew McLaughlin and Logan Porter both hit doubles while Trey Kamachi, Porter, Miles Bice and Tyler Mildenberg all collected RBIs in the rally.
The Lancers scored three runs over the next three innings to pull to 4-3. DSU matched its first-inning run total in the top of the sixth. Mildenberg and Trey Reineke drew walks, then advanced to second and third. Reece Lucero then reached on a passed ball after swinging for strike three. Mildenberg scored on the play. Wyatt Branch then singled through the left side to score Reineke. Tyler Baker, who began the first-inning rally, then sacrifice-bunted Lucero home to put DSU up 8-3.
The Trailblazers got one more in the seventh when Mildenberg sacrificed in Kamachi.
In the bottom of the inning, the Lancers began to claw back. They scored a run in the seventh and then got some big hits in the eighth to get three more, trimming the Blazer lead to 9-7. In the ninth, the Lancers got a hit to score the first run, drew a walk to get the tying run and then plated the last run when the batter was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Baker led the Trailblazers with two of DSU’s eight hits on the day, while Mildenberg collected two RBIs. Preston Hannay was impressive in the start. Hannay went six innings, striking out three. He scattered nine hits and three runs.
Dixie State falls to 20-6 with the loss and 9-3 in the PacWest. The Trailblazers return home to face current PacWest leader Point Loma. The series will be played in a pair of doubleheaders, the first coming Friday, March 24 at 4 p.m., followed by a second doubleheader on Saturday, March 25 at noon.
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