OCR Text |
Show . BY PORTER LARSEN PLarsenDSN i i Dixie State baseball and ll continued to garner national attention with impressive sweeps over Academy of Art and Colorado Mesa University. soft-ba- Baseball Dixie State baseball had a e of sweep Academy of Art at Bruce Hurst field this weekend. DSU exploded in the first game of the series Friday night, when it scored 21 runs en route to the blowout win over A of A. The Red Storm, winners of 18 of their last 19 games, gave up the first two runs of the game to the Knights before the offensive explosion. Junior Porter Clayton earned the victory on the mound, and senior second baseman Yuto Kata went 4 from the plate with five RBIs in the 21-- 3 win. Senior infielder, Kevin Kline, a psychology major from Las Vegas, was also perfect on the day, going 2 with four runs. Were playing fundamental baseball, Kline said. Even when we are down as we were this weekend, we have guys step up with huge which has given us a lot of confidence in those situations. The confidence Kline spoke of continued to show in the second game of the series, as the Storm continued their dominance on the diamond. Freshman Dylan File earned his first career complete game. File threw 99 pitches Friday night, retiring the first 14 batters he faced and striking out six batters on his way to the 1 win. On Saturday, the Storm kept the heat up in another double-headeOnce again, A of A struck first, scoring three unanswered runs before DSU took over. Kata and sophomore infielder Drew McLaughlin both went 4 from the plate, combining for three runs four-gam- Michelle Duncan, a senior business administration major from Gilbert, Arizona, sends in the pitch during the game on Thursday against Colorado Mesa. Duncan improved to 17-- 0 from the circle this season with a win against Colorado Mesa. 4-- scored and three RBIs. Sophomore pitcher Tanner Howell earned his second win of the season in a relief effort, where he retired all 10 batters he faced in the 4 win. We struggled defensively 'this week, head coach Chris Pfaten-hausaid. Our guys were so strong at the plate that we were able to overcome it. Our goal is to get better every day, and I think we took a step back from that on defense this week, so we will be working on cleaning up our errors and fielding. Looking to close out the sweep of the Knights, DSU needed a big play from junior catcher Sam Hall to get the 10-- 6 victory. With the game tied Hall stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and cranked one over the right field wall. The grand-slaproved to be just what the Storm needed, as they won with a four-ru- n margin. DSU improved to 20-- 8 overall and 15-- 1 in Pacific West Confer 2-- 11-- 6-- 3-- 3, r. m 3-- continued from Page 4 and despite the tough defense from freshman guard Trevor Hill, hit an leaner as time lift the Lions to expired to victory. Theres nothing you could do about that shot, said Thompson, a senior communication major from Las Vegas. It doesnt take away from the great year we had as a team. Theres no one I would trade for the guys I played with. Judkins said he couldnt be more proud of his team. I challenged my guys to get a little better every single day, and I can honestly say that they did that, Judkins said. We had an awesome run. The Storm finished off the season 20-- 8 overall and will retain all but two off-balan- ce It would face the No. 1 defense in the nation and the same team that knocked it out of the tournament two of the last four years, Cal Poly Pomona. A tight contest throughout, DSU found itself down three with 20 seconds to go when junior forward Mark Ogden Jr. stepped into a game-tyin- g long ball. It was Ogdens made or atonly tempted on the season. On the ensuing possession, Terrance Dris-dostuck a dagger deep into the hearts of Storm faithful. With the game tied, Drisdom drove to the middle of the lane, m four-gam- Thursday. Softball er at-ba- ts, MADNESS ence play. Next, The Storm head west to California to face Fresno Pacific e in a senes beginning Ridmg a winning streak, the longest in the nation, the Red Storm traveled north to Cedar City to face Division I rival Southern Utah University. A late rally was not enough to keep the streak alive for the Storm as the team dropped its first game since Valentines Day. SUU scored three unanswered runs in the sixth Dixie inning to put it on top tried to storm back in the final inning, but the Thunderbirds stifled the comeback attempt, stranding what wouldve been the winning run on first base. Junior catcher Autumn Woodfall went 4 in the loss. Following the loss, the Storm looked to start up another streak 23-ga- 5-- 3. 3-- in the third inning, her ce team-hig- h seventh of the season. Sophomore shortstop Josey Hartman and soph- omore pitcher Brooklyn Beardshear each added two-ru- n bombs to seal 0 the victory. Freshman outfielder Janessa Bassett earned PacWest Newcomer of the Week for her efforts in the series. Bassett, a biology major from Stansbury Park, attributes the great play to the teams chemistry. I think we are playing so well because we are just going out there and having fun, Bassett said. We all get along so well on and off the field. We have a lot of fun, but at the same tune we keep the intensity and seriousness that the game requires. With the wins, DSU improved to 31-- 6 overall and stayed 20-- 0 in the PacWest. Next for the Storm is a California road trip beginning against California Baptist University on Friday. two-gam- 9-- 9-- 2, 0. er six-ga- of its contributing players. However, the two leaving in are the top two e DSU scoring in Thompson and Robbins. Had some awesome memories here, Thompson said. My favorite was probably when Juddy Judkins got mad at BYU-a couple years He slapped himself ago. and passed out on the court. Best times of my life, man Despite the tough end to the season, Nielson remains optimistic about the programs future. We didnt finish how we wanted, and we will use that as motivation, Nielson said. We will come back next fall and continue to build Dixie State into a championship program. all-tim- H t t i mjzruzKiz C:t15Cif with foe Coloraagainst do Mesa University. DSU exploded e against the Mavericks in the series Thursday. Facing an early deficit, DSU scored nine unanswered runs to put the Mavs away. Senior catcher Marla Reiter and senior second baseman Nicole Chavez both had two-ru- n bombs in the game, in pushing DSU to the win, Michelle Duncan Senior one. game stayed perfect on the season from Dunthe circle, improving to 17-can said it was very important to rebound following the loss to SUU. I think we bounced back really well from the loss, Duncan said. The offense really came alive against CMU. The second leg of the double-headbelonged entirely to Dixie State. Aryn Feickert, recently named PacWest Pitcher of the Week, didnt allow a run from CMU all game long. Offensively, Reiter smacked another homer DSU 13 k. A V ST. GEORGE 1 7 ujAim , Our location on the blvd 2013 J University Parkway l |