Utah Tech Baseball heading to Wichita

Utah Tech baseball hits the road this weekend to take on Wichita State. The Trailblazers lost to UNLV their last time out and are looking to get back on the winning side of things against another quality program on the road.

Here's the press release from UT Sports Media Relations: (full article)

PRESS RELEASE

PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday (G1) – RHP #40 Dylan Gardner (0-2, 9.35 ERA) vs. WSU LHP #17 Caden Favors (1-0, 3.65 ERA)
Saturday (G2) – LHP #6 Carston Herman (0-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. WSU RHP #28 Daniel Zang (1-0, 4.91 ERA)
Sunday (G3) – RHP #34 Ky Decker (0-1, 5.41 ERA) vs. WSU RHP #49 Tommy LaPour (0-1, 22.50 ERA)

FIRST PITCH: After opening the 2024 campaign by playing eight of its first nine at home, Utah Tech (1-8/0-0 WAC) heads out on an eight-game road swing, which begins this weekend with a three-game series at Wichita State (4-3).
Friday's series opener will start at 4 p.m. (CT), followed by game two on Saturday at 2 p.m. (CT), and Sunday's series finale at 1 p.m. (CT), at Eck Stadium.

ALL-TIME SERIES: This weekend's set at Wichita State will be the third series between the Trailblazers and Shockers on the diamond. Last season Utah Tech (1-6 vs. WSU) dropped three of four to WSU at Bruce Hurst Field, with the lone Blazer win coming by a 12-4 count in the series opener (2/22/23).
The two sides first met early in the 2021 season in Wichita for a three-game series, which was Utah Tech's second-ever series as a newly-minted Division I program. However the Shockers proved to less than hospitable hosts as they swept all three games in the set (3/5-7/21).

UTAH TECH ON THE WEB: All Utah Tech home games, along with all WAC away games, this season will be streamed live online on either WAC International (wacinternational.tv) or ESPN+ (plus.espn.com).

COACHING STAFF: Two-time Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year Chris Pfatenhauer is in his 12th season as head coach of the Utah Tech Baseball program. During his tenure in the UT dugout, Pfatenhauer led the Trailblazers to consecutive PacWest titles in 2014 and 2015, and to five-straight trips to the NCAA West Regionals from 2013-17, including serving as the host institution in 2013.
Pfatenhauer, who picked up his 300th victory as UT skipper in the 2022 season finale at California Baptist (14-8; 5/21/2022), owns a 314-240-1 (.567) overall record at Utah Tech, and a 366-299-1 (.550) career mark.
Joining Pfatenhauer (UNLV, 2000) in the Trailblazer dugout this season is associate head coach Bobby Rinard (Arizona, 2014), who is in his 10th season on coaching staff overall, along with first-year pitching coach Daniel Stange (UC Riverside, 2015), and former Trailblazer Braxton Ipson (Utah Tech 2020), who moved into an assistant coach role after serving as director of baseball operations last season.

LAST TIME OUT: Utah Tech closed out February on a sour note after the Trailblazers suffered a three-game home sweep at the hands of CSUN last weekend, which was followed by a lopsided midweek home loss to UNLV this past Tuesday afternoon.

TRAILBLAZERS VOTED 11TH IN WAC PRESEASON POLL: Utah Tech was picked to finish 11th in the Western Athletic Conference as the league office announced its 2024 baseball preseason poll on Feb. 6.
Grand Canyon received nine first-place votes and 99 voting points to top the 2024 preseason coaches poll. Utah Valley (75 pts) and California Baptist (74 pts) each split the final two first-place votes to finish second and third in the poll, respectively.
Abilene Christian (70 pts) wound up being selected fourth, followed by UT Arlington (68) in fifth, UTRGV (59 pts) in sixth, Sacramento State (54 pts) in seventh, Seattle U (39 pts) in eighth, Tarleton (34 pts) in ninth, Stephen F. Austin (19 pts) in 10th and Utah Tech (16 pts) in 11th.
The top eight teams in the conference standings will advance on to the 2024 WAC Baseball Championship Tournament, which will be held May 22-26 at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.

PLENTY OF BUZZ: Though no Utah Tech player was voted to the WAC's preseason all-conference team, several Trailblazers are generating plenty of preseason buzz.
Freshman SS Petey Soto Jr. was named to the Perfect Game all-WAC preseason team and was the publication's pick for Freshman of the Year.
In addition, Perfect Game has listed three Blazers in its top-10 2024 Major League Baseball Draft prospects list, including junior LHP Justin Woodbury (#4), and a pair of newcomers in junior 1B Aaron Perez (#3) and RHP Dylan Gardner (#5).
Meanwhile, Perfect Game has sophomore outfielder Karson Irvin listed as the fourth-best prospect on its 2025 Draft list, and Soto Jr. made it on the 2026 Draft list.

HOME SWEET HOME: Utah Tech has played to a 310-146 (.680) overall record in 456 games played inside the friendly confines of Bruce Hurst Field since the start of its four-year era in the 2007 season.
The Trailblazers have posted a winning home record in 15 of 17 seasons since transitioning to NCAA status in 2007, which includes an 11-11 at home in 2022.
Utah Tech had won 20 or more home games in eight of those 16 seasons overall, including 21-5 (.807) record in 2017, and a 24-6 mark (.800) in 2016, which was the second-best home record in terms of wins in the program's NCAA era (26-7 in 2009).
The 24 home wins in 2016 were the most under Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer, while the .807 winning percentage in 2017 was the best W% in Pfatenhauer's tenure.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Despite the 2024 road-opening loss at Arizona (2/20), and a 2-21 road mark last year, Utah Tech has managed to hold its own away from home in its NCAA era as the Trailblazers have played to a 170-199-1 overall road record (.461).
Utah Tech had posted a winning road record in eight of their last 14 seasons overall, highlighted by a 16-7-1 road mark in 2017. The 16 road wins were the most since beginning NCAA play in 2007.
In 2015, Utah Tech went a program-best 15-5 on the road (.750), and UT has won at least 10 road games in nine of its last 11 seasons overall. When you also figure in neutral-site games (14-11 in 25 games), Utah Tech is 184-205-1 (.473) all-time away from Bruce Hurst Field in the program's NCAA era.

CLOSING IN ON 500: Utah Tech enters the week seven wins away from collecting victory No. 500 during its NCAA era.
The Trailblazers recorded their 400th win in the program's NCAA era in the series opener vs. UCCS (6-1) on March 16, 2019. Utah Tech is currently 493-355-1 (.581) all-time through 17-plus years of NCAA competition (849 games).

FREE BASEBALL: After not playing an extra inning game in two full seasons in 2019 and 2020, Utah Tech has played in 13 extra inning affairs since its move to Division I, all of which have come over the Blazers' last 134 games, including four last season.
The Trailblazers are currently 4-9 in extra inning games during their D-I transition, and 35-24 (.593) overall in 59 total extra-inning games in the program's four-year era. Utah Tech is 17-13 in 10-inning games, and the program has won nine of its last 20 extra inning games overall.

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