COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-Thursday, Dixie State baseball was picked to finish third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference preseason polls in their first season of RMAC competition.
The Trailblazers return seven starting position players, one starting pitcher, 21 total letter-winners from 2018 and two redshirts.
Colorado Mesa, the defending RMAC regular season and tournament champion, received eight of a possible 10 first-place votes.
Entering his seventh year as the Trailblazers’ head coach, Chris Pfatenhauer has a record of 204-106-1 and has never suffered a losing season at the helm in St. George.
He also led Dixie State to consecutive PacWest Conference titles in 2014 and 2015 and five straight trips to the NCAA West Regionals from 2013-17.
Trailblazers sophomore second baseman Tyler Hollow was also named to the 2019 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s second team in the South Central region.
His freshman campaign saw the native of Boise, Idaho amass six doubles, 15 RBI and 22 net runs scored.
Dixie State’s leading returning batter is senior infielder Joe Raymond of Foresthill, Calif. (.327, 11 doubles, HR, 23 RBI and 31 runs scored last season).
Senior right-hander Jayden Murray (46 strikeouts) is Dixie State’s leading returning pitcher.
The Trailblazers’ season commences February 1-3 at San Bernardino, Calif. as they will play three games against Saint Martin’s and one against host school UC San Bernardino.
Dixie State’s first home game of the season is February 6 against Northwest Nazarene.
