ST. GEORGE — Utah Tech’s baseball team played two nearly identical games against Stephen F. Austin Friday and Saturday, resulting in the first Western Athletic Conference series losses of the season for the Trailblazers. 

Less than 24 hours after falling to the Lumberjacks 13-10 in ten innings Friday night at Bruce Hurst Field, Utah Tech lost 17-9 Saturday and SFA took the series in St. George.

The Trailblazers lost for the third time in a row and fell to 7-17 overall, including a 2-3 mark in WAC play.

On Saturday, SFA dug a hole too deep for Utah Tech to climb out of, taking a 9-1 advantage after an eight-run third inning.

The Trailblazers chipped away at the lead and got back into the game — just like they did in Friday night’s contest.

Hank Dodson singled to score two runners and an RBI groundout by Blake Borgogno cut the UT deficit to 9-7 after the fourth inning.

UT plated single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, but the Lumberjacks (10-12, 4-4 WAC) iced the win with a five-run ninth frame.

Trailblazer batters combined for 10 hits in the setback. Shane Taylor accounted for two of them, including a double and his second home run this season. Batting leadoff, Taylor also walked twice and scored twice.

Zach Thomas also had two hits and eight of the nine starting Trailblazers in the starting lineup had at least one hit.

The three-game set with Stephen F. Austin concluded Sunday afternoon.

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