CHICO, Calif. – A five-run sixth inning ultimately sank Colorado Mesa as the Mavs suffered their first loss of the season by an 11-7 margin at the hands of Chico State.
Designated hitter
Max Valdez went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBI in the loss, opening up a series that was added to the schedule just days ago in the wake of CMU's canceled home series with Southern New Hampshire.
The game was a case of the Mavericks chipping away at Chico State leads but never getting the huge hit to pull them all the way back. Colorado Mesa trailed 3-0 after two innings and 5-4 after five innings, but five Chico State runs in the sixth put the game effectively out of reach despite CMU grabbing two runs back in the seventh and another in the eighth.
Kannon Handy started on the mound for the Mavs, throwing 3.1 innings and giving up four runs on five hits. Handy did manage to strike out six batters while only walking one.
Cade Nicol was the first man out of the bullpen for CMU and pitched 1.2 one-run innings.
David Craig failed to get an out in the fateful sixth inning, but an error by the Mavs defense meant only two of the four runs Craig gave up were earned.
Jordan Ellison and
Emilio Flores finished the game on the hill.
Valdez was in the middle of nearly everything the Mavericks did offensively. Valdez scored CMU's first run on a double by
Julian Boyd in the fourth. After Boyd advanced to third on an error,
Ethan Ezor hit a sacrifice fly to bring Boyd in. In the fifth inning, Valdez came through with a two-run single, scoring
Paul Schoenfeld and
Harrison Rodgers to make the game 5-4 at that point.
Colorado Mesa's other multi-run scoring inning was the seventh, when
Conrad Villafuerte hit a sacrifice fly and Valdez followed with a solo home run, which was the sophomore's first of the season despite it being his 11th run batted in.
Declan Wiesner hit an RBI single in the eighth to complete the CMU scoring.
The brief three-game series with Chico State will conclude with a double-header Monday starting at 1 p.m. Links to listen to the game or follow along via live stats are available on the CMU website.
