GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – This year's version of the Colorado Mesa baseball team may not have the historic raw power that the 2022 roster had. But by using speed, clutch hitting and lockdown work from the bullpen, the Mavs proved there's more than one way to win a ballgame in a 9-5 Opening Day triumph over No. 38 Azusa Pacific at The Diamond at Bus Bergman Sports Complex.
A year after leading Division II in home runs, CMU banged out 13 singles among their 15 hits on Thursday, using the bunt and the hit-and-run to perfection and coming through with two-out, two-strike hits multiple times to come back from a 5-2 deficit.
Conrad Villafuerte had four hits and reached base five times while
Stevenson Reynolds had three hits, including a double.
Kannon Handy struck out four in four innings of work while
Cade Nicol,
Jordan Ellison and
Anthony Durbano combined to throw five scoreless innings in relief.
The Mavericks wasted no time getting on the board in the bottom half of the first.
Paul Schoenfeld, a transfer from Butler Community College, hit leadoff in his Maverick debut and singled to open the game. Harrison Rogers bunted Schoenfeld over to second and CMU's new center fielder stole third base before Villafuerte singled him home. After an Azusa error nullified a potential double-play ball,
Julian Boyd came through with a two-out single to bring around Villafuerte for a 2-0 Maverick lead.
Handy cruised through the first two innings, giving up only one hit, but ran into a bit of a wall in the third. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases before reigning NBCA Player of the Week Casey O'Laughlin belted a grand slam to right. It was already O'Laughlin's seventh home run of the year in six games played. Omar Lopez followed with a solo home run to straightaway center and CMU found itself down 5-2.
The Maverick pitching staff would hold the Cougars scoreless for the remaining six innings, however, and the CMU offense chipped away. Boyd delivered again in the bottom of the third with a two-out double that scored Villafuerte.
Stevenson Reynolds came around to score from first when the Azusa left fielder misplayed the ball, one of five APU errors on the day.
The Mavs manufactured another run to tie the score in the fourth, as
Robert Sharrar singled, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a Schoenfeld single. CMU would add one in the fifth on a
Max Valdez single, two in the sixth on an RBI knock from
Harrison Rodgers and an RBI hit-and-run single from Villafuente and one in the eighth on a Valdez sacrifice fly.
Schoenfeld shone in his Maverick debut, finishing 2-for-5 with two runs scored and playing excellent defense in center field. At one point, Schoenfeld crashed into the fence to haul in a long fly ball near the "400" sign in straightaway center. Valdez also impressed as the player with the first opportunity to fill CMU's open hole at catcher, finishing with just one hit but flying out to the warning track three times while throwing out a runner from behind the plate.
Jordan Ellison, a transfer from Barton Community College, pitched two hitless innings of relief in his Maverick debut, striking out two.
Anthony Durbano, a first-team All-RMAC reliever in 2021 who missed all of 2022 with injury, returned to the mound to finish off the ninth and collected a pair of strikeouts.
No. 15 Colorado Mesa's series with No. 38 Azusa Pacific continues with a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 12 p.m. The fourth and final game of the series will be played Saturday at 11 a.m.
