GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The top-ranked Colorado Mesa baseball team completed their comeback effort in a 4-3 win over sixth-seeded Colorado Christian on Wednesday (May 10) evening at The Diamond at the Bus Bergman Sports Complex in the opening day of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament.
 
The Cougars took the early lead 3-0 in the first inning as they got a two-run home run from Luke Thompson that hit the foul pole down the right field line and an RBI single from Major Mayden that scored Gabe Ramos on the play.
 
That was all that Colorado Christian could muster but they were getting a great pitching performance from Jake Gimbel.
 
Colorado Mesa was able to answer in the bottom of the third as Jonathan Gonzalez belted an RBI double to left center field that scored Declan Wiesner followed by Julian Boyd reaching on an error that allowed Gonzalez to score on the play to cut the Cougar lead to 3-2.
 
The Mavericks took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth as Stevenson Reynolds drove in Julian Boyd on fielder's choice followed by Wiesner driving a 2-2 pitch up the middle that scored Reynolds on the play for the 4-3 lead.
 
Boyd finished the game with two hits while Conrad Villafuerte finished the game 3-for-4.
 
Jacob Rhoades had an up-and-down outing and didn't factor into the decision. After allowing three runs in the first then allowed just one hit until he was pulled from the game in the top of the sixth inning. On the night, he allowed three runs on three hits, walked seven and struck out eight on 111 pitches over five and a third innings.
 
Cooper Vasquez earned the win to move to 2-0. He allowed just two hits and struck out one over two and two-thirds innings.
 
Anthony Durbano pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts to earn his seventh save of the season.
 
Colorado Mesa moves on in the winner's bracket tomorrow as they will face Colorado School of Mines at 3:00pm. The Orediggers fell on a walk-off hit to Regis earlier in the day.