DENVER, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa baseball team picked up a non-conference win over MSU Denver 8-2 on Tuesday (Mar. 13) afternoon at the Regency Athletic Complex in Downtown Denver.
 
Seven Colorado Mesa pitchers combined to allow just four Roadrunner hits in the game. Freshman Frankie Fitzgerald earned his first collegiate win after pitching a pair of shutout innings and striking out three. Fitzgerald (1-0) faced six batters and induced a pair of groundouts and a flyout for his other three outs.
 
For the sixth straight game, the Maverick pitching staff has struck out 10 or more opponents dating back to the final game of the Colorado Christian series. In those six games, they have struck out 80 batters.
 
The Mavericks got the bats going in the second inning of action. Spencer Bramwell reached on an error that allowed Will Dixon to score followed by an RBI triple by John Ballard to make it 2-0 Colorado Mesa.
 
MSU Denver cut into the lead with a run in the bottom half of the second.
 
Colorado Mesa opened it up in the fourth inning scoring four runs on four hits in the inning while stranding the bases loaded. The inning was highlighted by a 2-run single by JJ Carr that brought in Ballard and Bramwell.
 
The Mavericks would add single runs in the eighth and ninth innings while MSU Denver tallied one run in the final frame.
 
Ballard finished the game 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three runs driven in. The Clayton, Calif. native had a sac fly and hit his first triple of the season.
 
Bramwell, Dixon and Tyler Sandoval all had multi-hit games.
 
Colorado Mesa moved back into fourth nationally in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll this week and improved to 16-5 on the season.
 
The Mavericks will have a bye this weekend and will resume play next weekend at RMAC rival CSU-Pueblo.