GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The No. 2 Colorado Mesa baseball team hosted the No. 7 Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks on Friday (Feb. 25) afternoon at Bergman Field. It was the first time the Mavericks had been swept in a doubleheader since April of 2018.
In game one of the day, the two teams battled back-and-forth with neither team gaining bigger than a three-run lead, but Northwest Nazarene hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to take a 9-7 lead and held on for a 9-8 advantage and the win.
The Mavericks took a 5-2 lead into the top of the sixth inning highlighted by RBI hits by
Harrison Rodgers,
Jordan Stubbings and
Caleb Farmer.
The Nighthawks made their move and took a 7-5 lead in the top of the sixth after plating five runs in their half of the inning.
Haydn McGeary hit the first of his two home runs in the game in the bottom half of the inning to cut the lead to one run. The home run boosted the Glendale, Ariz. native into the top spot on the all-time home run list just ahead of Chris McClure. The record stood for over 20 years and now belongs to the junior.
He responded once again by knotting the game at 7-7 with a long ball to left center.
After the home run in the ninth by NNU,
Jordan Stubbings hit a controversial home run to right center field that appeared to be nearly caught y the Nighthawk center fielder. Nonetheless, it was ruled a home run and the lead was cut to one.
McGeary and Stubbings both finished the game with three hits while five others had two hits.
Blake Rohm was tagged with his first loss of the season.
For the first time since 2004, Colorado Mesa was shutout at home in a 4-0 loss to the Nighthawks as they could only muster five hits in the game.
The Mavericks had runners on in the first six innings of the seven-inning game but could only get a runner to third base one time during the game.
Northwest Nazarene pitchers Haden Keller and Blake McFadden combined on the shutout as they allowed five hits, walked four and struck out nine.
The two teams will conclude their four-game series tomorrow with a doubleheader beginning at 11:30am at Bergman Field.
