WINTER PARK, Fla. – After trailing 1-0 to No. 15 Rollins, the No. 8 Colorado Mesa baseball team scored five unanswered runs to claim a 5-1 win over the Tars on Thursday (Feb. 8) afternoon at Alfond Stadium.
 
For the second straight game, the Mavericks opponent jumped out to an early lead. This time the Tars led 1-0 after the first as a hit by pitch came around to score on a single.
 
Colorado Mesa answered back in the top of the fourth as Jonathon Gonzalez drove in Braden Winget to knot the game at 1-1. Gonzalez had a hard-hit single up the middle and Winget barreled around third base and had a strong headfirst slide to the outside which got under the Rollins tag for the score.
 
In the next inning the Mavericks would take the lead for the first time. A Robert Sharrar walk would load the bases with nobody out in the fifth. Paul Schoenfeld would drive in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to right field where everyone would move up a base. That would be all the Mavericks would get out of the bases loaded nobody out situation but, nonetheless, they led 2-1 after five.
 
Freshman Ethan Nunez added to the lead after delivering a RBI single up the middle that scored Schoenfeld on the play to make it 3-1 ball game after seven complete innings.
 
Colorado Mesa would add a pair of insurance runs in the top half of the ninth inning as Schoenfeld would score on a wild pitch and Nunez would score on a sacrifice fly by Kennedy Hara to make it 5-1.
 
For the second straight day, the Mavericks received outstanding pitching. Junior Cole Seward took the ball in the series opener and went a full five innings before giving way to the bullpen. Seward allowed one run on three hits didn't walk anyone and struck out six to earn his first win of the season.
 
David Craig pitched three shutout innings and allowed just one hit, one walk and struck out four. Craig kept the Tars bats at bay while the Mavericks were extending the lead in the late innings.
 
Newcomer JJ Almeda pitched a perfect ninth inning recording a strikeout in the final at-bat of the game.
 
The two teams will continue the series tomorrow with a single nine-inning game at an earlier time than originally scheduled. First pitch is now scheduled for 1pm mountain.