The road has not been unkind for the Dixie State baseball and softball teams. The hardballers won their seventh game in eight tries on a Bay Area road trip with Saturday’s 10-6 win over Holy Names. The Storm softballers, meanwhile, swept a pair from Dominican and improved to 11-3 in PacWest play.
BASEBALL
Dixie State 10, Holy Names 6
Dixie State used a pair of big offensive innings en route to the win in Alameda, Calif. The Storm (20-6/8-4 PacWest) took three of four in their series with the Hawks (5-20/3-9 PacWest) and won seven of eight overall on its season-long eight-game road trip to the Bay Area.
DSU looked as if it was going to have an easy go of it as the Storm sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven first-inning runs to bolt out to a 7-0 lead. Samuel Hall got Dixie State on the board as he laced a two-run double to right center to plate Tanner Morache and Drew McLaughlin with the game’s first runs. Then, after an RBI-single from Bryce Feist and run-scoring groundout from Jerome Hill II, DSU strung together three-straight two-out RBI-hits from Jake Davison, Miles Bice and Morache as part of a seven-hit barrage to open the game.
The Hawks returned the favor in the home half of the first with three hits and four runs of their own, including a two-RBI double from Branson Umbarger, to trim the deficit to 7-4.
Dixie State came back with three runs in the fourth as Feist cashed in a lead-off walk and Hawk error with a three-run home run to left field, his first homer of the year, to extend the Storm advantage to 10-4.
DSU starter Mason Hilty (no decision) righted the ship after the rocky start to his day as he set down the next nine Hawks he faced. However, HNU opened the fifth inning with a pair of singles, which chased Hilty from the game. Storm reliever Kolton Brost (W, 1-0) limited the Hawks to just one run on a sacrifice fly to get DSU out of the further damage. In all, five Storm relievers combined to hold Holy Names to just one run and two hits over the final 4.2 innings of play to close out the game and series win.
Feist drove in a career-high four runs as part of a 2-for-5 day with two runs scored, while Morache finished with three hits as DSU outhit Holy Names 11-7.
After a week off, Dixie State will open an eight-game PacWest homestand at Bruce Hurst Field to close out the month of March and ring in April. DSU will host Hawai’i Hilo for four games March 28-29, followed by a four-game set vs. Fresno Pacific March 31-April 2.
SOFTBALL
Dixie State 11, Dominican 1
Dixie State 6, Dominican 1
The No. 15 Dixie State softball team extended its winning streak to 10 games Saturday with a doubleheader sweep at Dominican in San Rafael, Calif.
The Red Storm (23-7, 11-3 PacWest) rolled to an 11-1 win in six innings in Game One behind a Jessica Gonzalez grand slam, and used a big fourth inning to complete the doubleheader sweep with a 6-1 win in Game Two.
“We were more efficient today than we have been,” head coach Randy Simkins said. “We were able to string hits together and move runners. Even our outs were more productive, as we were able to move runners even if we made an out.”
Dixie State returns to Karl Brooks Field for a Wednesday afternoon doubleheader vs. Chaminade at 3 p.m. The Red Storm learned on Saturday that their scheduled Sunday doubleheader at Chico State was canceled due to oncoming inclement weather.
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