PUEBLO, Colo. – The No. 5 ranked Colorado Mesa baseball team extended its winning streak over their rivals the CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves on Friday with an 8-5, 11 inning win at Rawlings Field in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action.
 
The win gives the Mavericks eight wins in a row against the Pack dating back to May 13, 2016. It also moves the Mavericks record in extra-inning games this season to 5-0.
 
AJ Landis was once again brilliant in the latter innings of the game and earned the win after pitching 2.2 innings of shutout relief. Landis (4-0) allowed four hits and struck out four before giving way to Tanner Herdt. Herdt relieved Landis in the 11^th inning and struck out one to earn his first save of the season.
 
Junior Kyle Leahy started the game and was roughed up in the first inning before settling in.
 
After the eighth batter of the inning, pitching coach Jeff Rodgers went out to talk to Leahy. Following the conference, the right hander retired the next seven batters in a row, allowing the offense to give him a lead. Leahy finished the night allowing three runs on seven hits, walked two and struck out nine in six innings of work.
 
The pitching staff extended its streak to six games of striking out 10 or more batters.
 
Tanner Rempel's 11^th inning, bases loaded hit by pitch gave the Mavericks the lead for good but Keenan Eaton's long two-run single gave the Mavericks the 8-5 cushion.
 
Eaton and Zach McLeod hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the second to put the Mavericks on the board. For Eaton, it was his third home run of the inning while McLeod's was second of the season.
 
McLeod finished the game with three hits and was a triple short of hitting for the cycle.
 
Colorado Mesa improved to 17-5 on the season and 8-1 in RMAC competition while CSU-Pueblo fell to 14-12 on the year, 6-7 in the RMAC.
 
The two teams will continue the series tomorrow with a doubleheader beginning at 1pm from Rawlings Field.