GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa baseball team earned a huge series win over No. 27 MSU Denver on Monday (Mar. 13) as they took the final game of the series 12-6 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opening series for both teams.
The Roadrunners took the early 3-0 lead after a two-out three run home run in the top of the first inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Colorado Mesa evened things up on an RBI double from
Stevenson Reynolds and RBI hits from Rob Sharrar and
Declan Wiesner.
They took their first lead of the game in the fifth inning as they plated four runs for a 7-3 lead.
Max Valdez hit a solo big fly for the first run of the inning followed by an RBI single from
Conrad Villafuerte. Jonathon Gonzalez closed the inning out with a two-run double right down the third base line that plated Villafuerte and Sharrar.
MSU Denver inched back into the game after an infield single scored a run to make it 7-4.
A bases loaded hit by pitch and
Julian Boyd reaching on an error made it 9-4 in the seventh and the Mavericks still had the bases loaded. Pinch hitter
Christos Stefanos stepped to the plate and delivered the final blow. Stefanos ripped a 1-2 pitch down the left field line that cleared the bases and made it 12-4.
The Roadrunners would get two in the eighth to make it 12-6 but that was all the closer they would get.
Cole Seward moved his record to 4-1 on the season after pitching seven innings in the series finale. He allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits, walked two and struck out four in 100 total pitches.
Seward gave up three runs in the first after a Roadrunner three-run home run but then he proceeded to retire the next 10 batters in order.
Cooper Vasquez came in and pitched the final two innings.
The Mavericks tagged MSU Denver starter Jack Slominski with his first loss of the year as he allowed six runs on eight hits, walked three and struck out one in four and a third innings pitched.
Colorado Mesa will head out on the road for the next two weeks and will begin the road swing with a four-game series with Colorado School of Mines beginning on Friday in Golden.
