Dixie State baseball sweeps conference leader Point Loma

Dixie State's Jake Davison (5), Dixie State University vs. Point Loma Nazarene University, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 24, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Stellar pitching and an arsenal of offensive talent brought PacWest Conference leader Point Loma down to reality Friday night as the Sea Lions were swept by Dixie State in a doubleheader, 7-0 and 11-3.

The nationally-ranked No. 25 Sea Lions sported an 8-0 conference record coming into Friday night’s doubleheader, but they had yet to play the three teams directly beneath them in the standings —No. 19 Dixie State, No. 15 Azusa Pacific and Cal Baptist.

Dylan File and Mason Hilty both pitched well and as a team, Dixie State got great performances at the plate. For the season, eight players are hitting above .300. Trey Kamachi, Tyler Mildenberg, Jake Davison and Logan Porter are all hitting above .400.

“We have several players having good years,” said Dixie State head coach Chris Pfatenhauer. “We have 14 seniors. Nine of them are non-pitchers. So I think their experience has shown in their preparation and play.”

Game One
DSU 7, PLNU 0

Dixie State’s Dylan File (33), Dixie State University vs. Point Loma Nazarene University, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 24, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

File pitched the entire game, giving up only four hits in nine innings as Dixie State shut out the Sea Lions 7-0. The only time PLNU threatened was in the top of the eighth, when they loaded the bases before Dixie State recorded the third out.

The Trailblazers, conversely, put up four runs in the first inning. Tyler Mildenberg singled in two runs. Bryce Feist then hit an RBI double. Miles Bice would later score Mildenberg on a fielder’s choice.

In the seventh inning, Tyler Baker reached on a fielding error that scored Jake Davison. The Blazers added their final two runs in the eighth. Two triples by Trey Kamachi and Mildenberg scored the first. Mildenberg then scored on a sacrifice bunt by Feist.

As a team, Dixie batted .375 in the game. Kamachi and Mildenberg were both 3 for 4 at the plate. Davison also had multiple hits. File improves to 5-0 on the year.

Game Two
DSU 11, PLNU 3

The nightcap was much of the same with DSU jumping out to a 9-0 lead before PLNU could get any runs across. The final spread was still significant as the Blazers won 11-3.

“We had a couple of errors at the end that allowed them to score,” said Pfatenhauer.

Dixie State’s Drew McLaughlin (2), Dixie State University vs. Point Loma Nazarene University, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 24, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

The Blazers again plated four in the first. Baker began the inning with a single to center field. He advanced to second on a fielder’s choice. He then stole third and scored on a throwing error by the catcher. Point Loma then walked four consecutive batters to score the second run. Davison then hit a two-run single to cap the scoring for DSU in the inning.

Kamachi had a sacrifice fly in the second inning to score Baker. In the third, DSU got two more. Davison singled and advanced to third on a throwing error. Bice scored on the play. Reece Lucero then singled in Davison. After three, the score was 7-0.

The Blazers added a run in the eighth when Mildenberg singled in Kamachi, and in the fifth, when Baker singled in Lucero. The Blazers scored at least one run in the first five innings and led 9-0 going into the sixth.

Dixie State’s Tyler Mildenberg (4), Dixie State University vs. Point Loma Nazarene University, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 24, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Point Loma finally got on the board, putting up three runs over the next two innings. The Sea Lions would be limited to those three for the night. DSU scored twice more. In the seventh, Mildenberg scored from third on a balk. And in the eighth, Kamachi singled in Lucero for the final run.

Mason Hilty (6-1) got the win, pitching seven innings. He gave up seven hits and struck out five. He got good support from Sean Hardman and Jose Rosales-Rodarte, who collectively only allowed one hit over the final two innings.

As a team, the Blazers hit .441 in the second game. Mildenberg and Baker led the team with three hits apiece. McLaughlin, Kamachi, Davison and Lucero also had multiple hits for the game.

Dixie State improves to 22-6 overall and 11-3 in the PacWest. Point Loma falls to 8-2 in conference play and 16-6 overall. The two teams renew their series with a doubleheader Saturday. Game One begins at noon.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.