HILO, Hawaii – Dixie State baseball, the West’s sixth-ranked team in the latest NCBWA poll, opened up a Pacific West Conference series Monday at the University of Hawaii-Hilo with a pair of one-run victories. Mike Dedrick threw nine scoreless innings in the Storm’s 1-0 extra inning victory in the opener. Trevor Goff paced an 11-hit attack with two doubles and a single as DSC downed the Vulcans 5-4 at Wong Stadium.
The wins push Dixie State to 22-12 on the year and 18-8 in the Pacific West. UH-Hilo fell to 10-17 and 6-12 in league play despite hanging tough all night with the Red Storm.
Dedrick and Vulcan starter Kekoa Lee faced off in an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel. Both starters kept their opponent scoreless – Lee allowed five hits in seven innings. Dedrick was masterful in nine frames. He allowed just four hits, one after the second inning, and had seven strikeouts. His efforts went without a decision – neither team was able to push across a run in regulation.
The game’s only run came in the visiting half of the 12th inning. Goff reached on a fielder’s choice and advance to third on two Richie Mariano (L, 2-1) wild pitches. Ammon Zitting singled through the right side scoring Goff for a 1-0 lead.
Daniel Zapata worked through a bases-loaded jam to get Lee with a lineout to Zitting at shortstop. Zapata notched his fifth save while Kyle DiMartino earned the win (3-0) striking out five in two scoreless relief frames.
Mike Stiles was the only DSC with a multi-hit effort in the opener. The Red Storm outhit UHH 10 to seven.
The DSC offense did not waste any time piling on runs in the second game, pushing out to a 5-2 lead after three innings.
Tyson Littlewood sparked the offense with an RBI single in the first.
Four doubles off Tyler Simao led to a three-run second. Joe Andrade and Colton Yack had run-scoring two-baggers while Zitting tallied an RBI single.
Tony Nelson scored from third on a wild pitch in the fourth frame.
The offense was enough support for starter Jordon Blanchard. The junior allowed four runs on six hits over 5.2 innings in victory. DiMartino recorded two outs in the sixth inning to stymie a Vulcan rally and Zapata tossed a perfect seventh for his sixth save.
DSC increased its lead in the Pac West to two games over idle Hawaii Pacific despite HPU having a one-game advantage in the loss column.
Games three and four are scheduled for Tuesday on the Big Island beginning at 7 p.m. Mountain (4 p.m. Hawaiian). Fans can listen to the UHH radio feed with Josh Pacheco by clicking the link at DixieAthletics.com.