GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The No. 13 Colorado Mesa baseball team swept a doubleheader from the visiting Chico State Wildcats on Saturday (Apr. 13) afternoon in non-conference action at The Diamond.
In game one of the day, the Mavericks scored four runs in the eighth inning to break a 7-7 tie and went on to beat the Wildcats 11-7 to take a two games to nothing lead in the series.
Ethan Nunez gave the Mavericks the lead in that eighth inning with his second home run of the game. He sent a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left center field for his 10th round tripper of the season.
Max Valdez gave the Mavericks some insurance with an RBI single to center field which made it 9-7.
Just two batters later,
TJ Rheem gave the Mavericks some added insurance with a two-run double to right center that brought around
Derek Shaver and Valdez. Rheem finished the game with two hits.
Earlier in the game, Nunez hit his ninth home run of the season in the third inning. The freshman finished the day 2-for-3 with two runs, and three runs driven in with the two big flies.
Friday night's hero
Robert Sharrar went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three runs driven in along with his 16
th home run of the season.
Ethan Voss earned his fifth win of the season after pitching five innings of relief. He allowed one run on three hits, walked one and struck out two in the appearance. At one point, the junior retired 14 of the final 16 batters he faced.
Game two took on the theme of the whole season. Trailing 4-0 after the top half of the first inning, Colorado Mesa scored 13 unanswered runs on their way to another come-from-behind victory this time by a score of 13-5 over the Wildcats.
Colorado Mesa clawed back in the first and plated three runs.
In the second inning,
Braden Winget provided the big blow with a two-run home run to give the Mavericks their first and final lead of the game. The senior saw a 2-0 pitch and sent it over the wall in left field for his second home run of the season and gave the Mavericks a 5-4 lead at the time.
He would later add a double and finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs scored and four runs driven in.
Rob Sharrar,
Christos Stefanos, and
TJ Rheem all finished with multiple hits.
The Mavericks were able to chase Chico State ace Ethan Lay after three innings. He allowed nine runs (seven earned) on seven hits, walked three and struck out two. Lay entered the weekend the top pitcher in Division II for walks per nine innings and walks issued with two.
On the other hand,
Cole Seward was outstanding following a rocky first inning. He moved his record to 6-0 on the season after allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits, walked two and struck out four in five innings of work. He allowed just two hits after the first inning.
The two teams will conclude the series on Sunday with a single nine-inning game beginning at Noon from The Diamond at the Bus Bergman Sports Complex.
