GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The 2024 baseball season came to an end Friday, much sooner than Colorado Mesa wanted, and once again against Angelo State.
The Rams, the defending NCAA Division II national champions, scored in all but two innings in a 15-8 victory to move into Saturday's South Central Regional championship game against West Texas A&M. The Lone Star rivals face off at 2 p.m. at The Diamond, with Angelo State needing to win only one game to advance to the Super Regionals. The Buffs need to win twice to keep their season alive.
The Mavericks (38-18) lost to Angelo State in the 2022 and 2023 Super Regional series, and are now 4-8 all-time against the Rams.
Locked in a 2-2 tie after freshman Ethan Nunez hit the first of his two home runs on the night, Angelo State (38-18) outscored CMU 9-3 over the middle innings to seize control. After Christos Stefanos launched a two-run home run to right-center in the top of the fifth to pull the Mavericks within one run at 5-4, the Rams responded with five runs in the bottom half of the inning. They sent 10 men to the plate and came through with runners in scoring position, something the Mavericks struggled to do in their two games.
Pinch-hitter Christian Garnette delivered a two-run single, and later in the inning, after the Mavericks elected to walk Tripp Clark to load the bases, Conagher Sands drove the first pitch he saw from reliever Evan Buenevich into center for two more runs.
JJ Almeda got the Mavericks out of the inning with a strikeout, but the hole was too big to dig out of against Angelo State's pitching.
The Mavericks scratched home one run in the sixth, but had the bases loaded with no outs after a hit batter and a pair of walks. After the Rams went to the bullpen, replacing starter Braxton Pearson with Caleb Heuertz, Paul Schoenfeld struck out and Jonathan Gonzalez reached on a fielder's choice, forcing Declan Wiesner at second but scoring Braden Winget. Robert Sharrar grounded out to end that threat, stranding a pair of runners.
A ninth-inning double by Sharrar, the final hit of the RMAC co-Player of the Year's career, put two runners in scoring position in the ninth. Gonzalez, the RMAC Tournament MVP playing in his final game, reached on a fielder's choice ahead of Sharrar. He scored on a wild pitch before Nunez hit a towering home run to center field, giving the RMAC Freshman of the Year a dozen in his first season.
Stefanos struck out and Joey Blank, who came in defensively in the seventh to play short and made a dazzling play on a ball hit up the middle, popped out to end the season.
Cole Seward (9-2) took the loss, allowing eight runs on eight hits. He struck out six and walked three in four innings. Bunevich, Almeda, Cade Nicol and Emilio Flores all worked in relief, each striking out one batter. Bunevich gave up two runs, Almeda and Nicol one and Flores, a sophomore making his fourth appearance of the season, allowed three.
Nunez went 3 for 5, scored three runs and drove in three to lead CMU's offense and give fans a glimpse of the future. Stefanos, a junior, had two RBI.
Colorado Mesa's offense, which led the nation in scoring at nearly 11 runs a game, scored a total of 10 in the regional. The No. 3-hitting team in Division II at .354 entering the tournament, sputtered, combining to hit .234.
The Mavericks lose eight seniors to graduation, but have a huge junior class, plus they'll get first baseman Stevenson Reynolds and right-handed pitcher/catcher Joey Mazzetti back from injury next season. Colorado Mesa won its 12th consecutive RMAC regular-season title and 22nd RMAC Tournament crown this season.
