NAMPA, Idaho – The Colorado Mesa baseball team split today's (Feb. 24) doubleheader with the Northwest Nazarene Night at Vail Field.
In game one of the day,
Kannon Handy was terrific on the mound and he got plenty of run support in an 8-1 win over Northwest Nazarene in game two of the series.
Handy allowed just one run on four hits, walked two and struck out 13 in six innings of work for the win. Both of his walks occurred in the first inning, and he retired seven in a row at one point before surrendering his lone run of the game. He struck out the side in the third and got two strikeout innings in the fifth and sixth innings.
He handed the ball over to his bullpen for the final three innings and got shutout performances from
Cade Nicol and
Jordan Ellison.
The hitters gave the staff all the run support they needed as the big inning struck for the Mavericks in the second inning.
Robert Sharrar started the scoring with a RBI single while
Harrison Rodgers followed with a RBI double to left center that brought home Sharrar and
Kennedy Hara.
Two batters later,
Conrad Villafuerte brought in another run on a RBI single through the left side of the infield that scored Rodgers.
Max Valdez stepped to the plate and delivered the big blow in the inning. Valdez launched his third home run of the season, a three-run shot to make the score 7-0.
Christos Stefanos added an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning with a single that brought around
Julian Boyd to make it 8-1.
Stefanos and Sharrar each finished the game with three hits while
Kennedy Hara finished the game with two hits. Stefanos, Sharrar and Hara made up the 7-8-9 spots in the order and finished with eight of the Mavericks 12 hits.
In game two of the day, the Mavericks couldn't avoid the big inning for the second straight day and surrendered five runs in the first and couldn't recover in a 6-3 loss in the nightcap.
The Nighthawks tallied five runs in the first on six hits for the early lead.
Colorado Mesa clawed back in the fourth on a
Julian Boyd two-run single that scored
Declan Wiesner and
Christos Stefanos to make it 5-2.
NNU got one back in the sixth before Jonathon Gonzalez hit a RBI groundout in the seventh for the final score of the game.
Harrison Rodgers and
Robert Sharrar each had multi-hit games for the Mavericks.
After the rough first inning, Maverick starter
Cole Seward pitched well. He allowed the five runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out eight in his five innings of work.
The two teams will conclude the series with a single nine-inning game beginning at Noon.
