ST. GEORGE, Utah- UC Riverside started the first of four today at Utah Tech. For the Highlanders this was their first road trip of the year and will play four games in three days.
Kurt Marton got the nod for UC Riverside. This was his second start on the year and his third appearance. In his first start he went three innings striking out four and got a no-decision. He faced Cade Montomery who came in with a 1-0 record and 0.00 era, after throwing five innings against Northern Colorado.

Robert Pitts led the game off with a single, but was erased trying to steal third and the Highlanders went quietly in the first.

In the bottom of the first, the Trailblazers struck first. After Kyle McDaniel led things off with a single, Hunter Katschke followed with a two-run homer giving Utah Tech a 2-0 lead. Marton settled down and retired the next three batters.

The Trailblazers pushed four runs across in the home half of the second and came with two-outs. A couple of singles and an error saw the Trailblazers lead grow to 6-0. Marton eventually got out of it when he recorded his second strikeout of the game.

The top of the third, Tyler Gordon reached on an error to start things off. He reached second on a wild pitch and moved over to third on a ground out by Ethan Bergan. Pitts grounded out and Gordon was stranded at third.

Utah Tech pushed another run across in the bottom of the fourth on a sac-fly and extended the lead to 7-0. That was the end of Marton's day as Chris Lozano took over in the same inning.

In the home half of the fifth, Utah Tech again loaded the bases. Katschke doubled to left driving in two and a sac-fly later, the Trailblazers took a 10-0 lead.

The Highlanders got on the board in the top of the sixth. Jaxon Byrd led the inning off with a walk and Ethan Bergan reached on an error. With two on and no out, Robert Pitts doubled scoring Byrd and Bergan scored on a ground out by Landon Nunes. Pitts crossed home on a single by Griffin Harrison, knocking Montgomery out of the game.
Leading 11-3 Utah Tech pushed one more across making it 12-3, which is how it ended.

The Highlanders play two tomorrow with game one starting at 11:05 and the second game will follow 45 minutes after.