Utah Tech defeated Austin Peay 15-11 in the opening game of a four-game baseball series at Bruce Hurst Field on Thursday night. The Trailblazers hit three home runs, including two grand slams, which set a new school record for most grand slams in a single game.
With this win, Utah Tech has now won seven consecutive games and improved its season record to 12-1. This start matches the best overall beginning to a season in the program’s NCAA era, equaling the 12-1 mark achieved in 2013.
Utah Tech took an early lead with RBI singles from Ryan Kroepel and Finnegan Stewart in the first inning. Austin Peay responded with a home run by Ty Wisdom in the second inning and added four more runs in the fourth inning, taking advantage of defensive errors to briefly lead 5-2.
The Trailblazers answered with five two-out runs in their half of the fourth inning. After loading the bases through walks, Petey Soto Jr. drove in one run with a single before Kyle McDaniel hit his first collegiate grand slam on a full count pitch from Ryker Walton.
Wisdom homered again for Austin Peay to cut into Utah Tech’s lead, but Kace Naone responded with his own grand slam—his first as a Trailblazer—in the fifth inning to extend Utah Tech’s advantage to 11-6. This marked Utah Tech’s third grand slam over their last six innings played; Gavin Long had delivered another grand slam earlier that week against Northern Colorado.
Austin Peay narrowed the gap again with Zion Taylor’s two-run homer in the sixth inning. However, Utah Tech maintained control by scoring twice more immediately after.
In the seventh inning, Austin Peay loaded the bases and scored twice before Kroepel moved from third base to pitcher and helped limit further damage. He later contributed offensively by hitting his third home run of the year after Kace Naone singled with two outs.
Kroepel also pitched effectively late in the game, striking out two batters in the eighth and closing out his Division-I leading sixth save despite allowing one walk in the ninth.
Overall, Utah Tech managed 15 runs on just ten hits while benefiting from six walks and three batters hit by pitches issued by Austin Peay pitchers. The top five hitters accounted for eight of those hits; Soto Jr., batting ninth, collected two hits and scored twice. Naone, Kroepel, and Stewart each recorded two hits apiece. McDaniel’s grand slam extended his streak of reaching base safely to 54 consecutive games.
The teams will continue their series Friday afternoon with a doubleheader starting at 2:05 p.m.
