GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – In a battle of top ten teams in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper coach's poll, the No. 9 Colorado Mesa Mavericks landed the first blow as they secured a 10-8 win over the visiting No. 3 Rollins College Tars on a cool Friday (Apr. 14) evening at The Diamond at the Bus Bergman Sports Complex.
It was the first time since June 4, 1964, that the Mavericks played a team from Florida in the State of Colorado and the first time ever as a four-year college. In 1964, they played Miami Dade North as a part of the NJCAA World Series at now Suplizio Field.
The Mavericks had the leadoff man reach in the first five innings of the game and kept the pressure on the Tars all night.
In the bottom of the first,
Robert Sharrar led the inning off with an infield single and after
Declan Wiesner sacrifice bunted him over, two batters later
Conrad Villafuerte belted a two-run homer to left field to give the Mavericks the early 2-0 lead. It was Villafuerte's sixth home run of the season.
Colorado Mesa plated two more in the bottom of the second inning, Jonathon Gonzalez and Sharrar each had run scoring base hits to take a 4-0 lead.
Harrison Rodgers opened the game up a little bit in the bottom of the third inning as he belted a three-run big fly to right center field to make it 7-0 in favor of the home team. Villafuerte led off with a walk followed by a
Christos Stefanos double down the left field line before Rodgers stepped to the plate.
Rollins got on the board in a big way in the fifth as they scored five runs including a grand slam in the inning to cut into the Maverick lead at 7-5.
In the bottom half of the inning, Colorado Mesa plated two in the frame to make it 9-5.
Ethan Ezor had a RBI groundout and
Stevenson Reynolds scored on a wild pitch for the run scoring plays in the inning.
The Mavericks would get one more in the seventh inning as pinch hitter
Paul Schoenfeld would score on a sacrifice fly by Sharrar. The redshirt junior would finish the game 3-for-4 with a run scored and two runs driven in with a double.
Rodgers and Gonzalez also had three hits in the game.
Jacob Rhoades got the ball in the series opener and earned his second straight win in as many starts. He allowed five runs on seven hits, walked three and struck out three in five innings of work.
Bridger Clontz,
Liam Hohenstein and
Anthony Durbano combined to pitch four innings of relief and allow three runs on six hits, walked one and struck out four.
Rollins' Cameron Meehan led the way as he finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored, four runs driven in, two doubles and a home run. In fact, his home run was a grand slam in the top of the fifth and cut the Mavericks lead to 7-5 at the time.
The Mavericks and Tars will continue the series tomorrow at 3:00pm from The Diamond. Following the game, the Mavericks will celebrate the 1,000 wins head coach
Chris Hanks and fans are encouraged to stick around for the short program.
