DENVER, Colo. – The No. 13 Colorado Mesa baseball team bounced back after yesterday's series opening loss with a doubleheader sweep of the Regis Rangers on Friday (Mar. 29) afternoon at Regis Ballpark.
In game one of the day, the Mavericks used a big second inning and got another solid relief appearance from
Evan Bunevich to secure a 13-9 win over the Rangers.
The Mavericks scored six runs on four hits in the inning to take a 6-3 lead in the game which was a lead they wouldn't surrender as the game progressed. They started the inning off with three straight singles before a bases loaded walk scored the first run of the inning.
A sacrifice fly and a fielder's choice brought
Kolby Felix to the plate with runners at first and third. Felix smashed a three-run home run to make it 6-3 at the time.
Each team was able to score four runs in the fourth inning to make it 10-7 after three complete innings.
Colorado Mesa would get two in the fifth and one in the top of the sixth on an
Ethan Nunez home run.
That would be all
Evan Bunevich would need as he pitched the final four innings of action. He allowed two runs on two hits, walked two and struck out three to move his record to 4-0 with all four wins coming in relief.
The Mavericks got huge games from the bottom half of their order as the 5-9 batters finished with nine of the teams 12 hits.
Nunez finished with three hits while
Derek Shaver and
Kennedy Hara each had two hits.
In the night cap,
Declan Wiesner's two-run single in the top of the ninth inning broke an 8-8 tie and helped lead the Mavericks to a 14-8 extra inning win to sweep both ends of the doubleheader.
Colorado Mesa needed to score two runs in the top of the seventh inning to extend the game. Trailing 8-6, they got RBI singles from
Christos Stefanos and
Kennedy Hara that tied the game at 8-8 and it would stay that way until the ninth.
Wiesner broke the game open, and the Mavericks were able to score four more after that for some cushion. Rob Sharrar had a two-run double, and
Jonathan Gonzalez followed with a two-run single to make it 14-8.
Sharrar finished the game 2-for-5 with two runs scored and five runs driven in. In the fourth inning, he gave the Mavericks a 6-1 lead after hitting a three-run bomb to right center.
Stefanos was 2-for-4 with three runs driven in and started the scoring in that fourth inning with a two-run home run to left field that gave the Mavericks their first lead of the game.
Kolby Felix and Wiesner each finished with two hits.
Ethan Voss earned the win in relief to move his record to 3-1 on the season. The junior allowed two runs on five hits, walked two and struck out three in five innings of work. After allowing two runs in the fifth, he settled in and pitched the final four innings of scoreless baseball.
The two teams will conclude the series with a single nine-inning game tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for noon.
