GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — To borrow a term from the ballplayers, Liam Hohenstein shoved.
The 2023 RMAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year sent the No. 16 Colorado Mesa baseball team into the RMAC Tournament championship game with his best performance this season, and one of the best of his still-young career.
He threw a complete-game five-hitter Friday (May 10) to beat Regis 7-1. Hohenstein struck out nine, two off his season and career high, and seemed to get stronger the deeper into the game he went.
A double play got him out of a small jam in the first inning, and from there, Hohenstein (7-1) was in command.
A double off the center field wall in the fourth inning by Garrett Rede, who had three of the Rangers' five hits, and a base hit to shallow left field gave the Rangers their only run of the game.
After that, only two Regis batters even reached base. Hohenstein hit a batter right after Matt Graf's RBI single, but Cam Dalrymple was thrown out trying to steal second by CMU catcher Declan Wiesner, and the Mavs' right-hander retired the next 11 batters, with four strikeouts. Rede led off the ninth inning with a base hit, but Hohestein struck out the next two men and got a ground ball to Gold Glove first baseman Braden Winget to put the Mavericks in position to successfully defend their RMAC Tournament championship.
Colorado Mesa (37-16) faces the winner of Friday's late game between Regis and Colorado School of Mines at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the championship game. A second game, if necessary, will follow.
The Mavericks are undefeated, so they need to win only one game to collect their 22nd RMAC Tournament championship — the next closest teams, CSU Pueblo and Southern Utah, have six each.
The NCAA will announce regional tournament bids at 8:30 p.m. (MDT) on Sunday, May 12 on ncaa.com. The Mavericks entered the conference tournament ranked No. 4 in the South Central Region. The RMAC Tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the regional playoffs.
Offensively, the Mavericks responded to the Rangers' early run by scoring three in the bottom of the fourth inning.
This season's RMAC Freshman of the Year, Ethan Nunez, led off with a double to left and scored on a base hit up the middle by Jonathan Gonzalez. TJ Rheem followed with a bunt single and both moved up on a passed ball. Braden Winget walked to load the bases and Wiesner beat out an infield single, scoring Gonzalez. A fly ball to center by Kennedy Hara got another run home, and that was plenty for Hohenstein.
In the seventh, though, the Mavericks put it out of reach. With two out and a runner at first, the Rangers went to the bullpen to bring a left-hander, Wyatt Sargent, to face the RMAC co-Player of the Year, Robert Sharrar, who hits from the left side. Sharrar took a pitch from the side-armer the other way, dropping a base hit to left-center, sending Paul Schoenfeld to third. Sharrar moved up to second on the throw, and Nunez followed with a two-run double off another Regis pitcher, Logan Deskin.
Nunez pulled up with an apparent leg injury and was replaced by Keegan Landis, who came around to score on an infield single by Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, who has had an outstanding tournament, went 3 for 4, Nunez was 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles, giving him 13 this season, and driving in two runs.
The game after hitting five home runs, the Mavericks manufactured runs against the Rangers in the relatively low-scoring game by RMAC standards.
The complete game by Hohenstein allows the Mavericks to enter the championship game with a rested bullpen, with likely only the starters in the first three games, Caleb Ruter, Cole Seward and Hohenstein, unavailable. With three quality starts, CMU has used only three relievers for a total of 5 1/3 innings, with Ethan Voss throwing 3 1/3 innings and Jordan Pace and JJ Almeda one each.
