ST. GEORGE, Utah – The No. 12 Colorado Mesa baseball team opened the season with a 3-2 win over the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks on Friday evening at Bruce Hurst Field. It is the sixth straight season the Mavericks have won their season opener dating back to the 2013 season.
Hunter Douglas got the Maverick offense going in the bottom of the third inning with a solo blast to left field that cleared the trees to give CMU the 1-0 lead.
Later in the inning,
Caleb Farmer hit a double to the right center gap followed by a RBI single to left field by
Jordan Stubbings to make the score 2-0.
Douglas wasn't done on the evening as he hit his second home run of the game in the bottom of the seventh, a shot to left center to give the Mavericks the 3-0 lead.
Things got interesting in the top half of the eighth inning. The Nighthawks had runners on first and second and Parker Price belted a two-run triple to right center field to cut the Maverick lead to 3-2.
Garrett Hutson came in relief of
Frankie Fitzgerald with the tying run on third base. The Abilene Christian transfer struck out the final two batters to preserve the lead. Hutson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the save.
JR McDermott pitched a gem in his first start of the season. The Smoky Hill product pitched five shutout innings and allowed just one hit, walked one and struck out nine. McDermott (1-0) had a streak of six straight batters that were retired via the strikeout.
The Mavericks will play two games tomorrow with one game against Northwest Nazarene at 11:30am and the second at 6:30pm against Cal State Los Angeles at Bruce Hurst Field.
