Dixie State’s baseball squad won its fifth straight game and the softball team completed a four-game sweep at Notre Dame de Namur Thursday in PacWest Conference road action for the Storm teams. Here’s a closer look:
BASEBALL
Dixie State won for the fifth-straight time on its current eight-game Bay Area road trip as the Storm claimed game one of a four-game Pacific West Conference series at Holy Names University, 5-2, in Alameda, Calif. DSU, which has won seven-straight road games overall, improved to 18-5 on the season, 6-3 in PacWest play.
The Storm broke open a scoreless game with a two-out rally in third inning as senior shortstop Tanner Morache laced a double to right center and would come home on an RBI-single off the bat of junior second baseman Drew McLaughlin. DSU picked up another two-out run an inning later when sophomore catcher Jake Davison singled home senior Samuel Hall to extend the lead to 2-0.
Dixie State’s pitching staff, which began the road trip shorthanded and was pitching in its fifth game in four days, made the early lead stand up. Junior righthander Sean Hardman (W, 2-0) struck out five and held the Hawks to just one hit and one unearned run over his five innings of work in his first start of the season.
DSU would tack on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth as the Storm loaded the bases with one out in the frame. McLaughlin led off the inning with a single and after sophomore pinch hitter Cam Gust and Hall were hit by pitches, junior outfielder Jerome Hill II singled up the middle to drive home McLaughlin and Gust to stake Dixie State to a 4-1 lead.
Morache then provided the exclamation point as he connected for his second home run of the season in the ninth. Meanwhile, three Storm relievers combined to limit the Hawks to one unearned run and three hits over the final four innings to close out the game.
DSU outhit HNU 10-4 as McLaughlin finished with three hits, while both of Morache’s two hits went for extra bases to go with two runs scored.
Dixie State continues its series at HNU with a doubleheader Friday at 11 a.m. (PT), and will close the series with a single game Saturday at 11 a.m. (PT).
SOFTBALL
The No. 15 Dixie State softball team completed the four-game series sweep of Notre Dame de Namur on Thursday, picking up two more wins at the College of San Mateo softball field in San Mateo, Calif.
The Red Storm (21-7, 9-3 PacWest) started slowly in both games, but scored two runs in the fifth and sixth inning in each game to come away with back-to-back 5-1 victories and extend their winning streak to eight games. The Storm pounded out 25 hits on Thursday, led by Jessica Gonzalez, who hit .833 (5-for-6) on the day with four RBIs and a home run, and Mallory Paulson, who hit .750 (6-for-8) on the day.
“You have to string together wins when you’re on the road and we’ve been able to do that these first few days,” head coach Randy Simkins said. “There’s a few things we can improve on, but I’m really pleased overall. To allow just two runs and commit only one error in four games on the road is really good.”
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