GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Caleb Ruter and Ethan Voss combined for a solid pitching performance Wednesday, combining for 13 strikeouts and stranding 11 runners as No. 16 Colorado Mesa won its opening game of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament with a 5-3 win over CSU Pueblo at The Diamond.
The top-seeded Mavericks (35-16) took advantage of three CSU Pueblo errors, scoring two of their five runs on those miscues.
Ruter, who earlier in the day earned All-RMAC honors, as did Voss, gutted through 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. He struck out eight and walked only two. He worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and made a key defensive play to cut down a runner at the plate in the fourth after the ThunderWolves scored on back-to-back doubles.
With the Mavericks, ranked fourth in the South Central Region, up 4-2 and Joseph Quintana on third base and Brady Ingalls on first after pushing a bunt single past the mound, the ThunderWolves attempted to squeeze home a run.
Kade Snodgrass bunted back to the mound and Ruter fielded it, with his momentum carrying him toward the plate. He shoveled the ball from his glove to catcher Declan Wiesner, who got the tag on Quintana just before he reached the plate.
Buoyed by that play, Ruter (5-0) struck out Rob Mansour to end the fourth and gave up a harmless single in the fifth after CMU added one run in the bottom of the fourth.
Kennedy Hara reached on an error and Wiesner bunted him over. Paul Schoenfeld reached on an infield single to first, with Hara taking third. He scored when first baseman Kysen Howard made an errant an off-balance throw trying to get the speedy Schoenfeld, who had to cartwheel over CSU Pueblo pitcher Tyler Curtis to reach the bag.
Ruter started to run out of gas in the sixth with two out, giving up a base hit and throwing a wild pitch. After falling behind 2-0 to Snodgrass, he was lifted for Voss, who ended up walking that batter but getting Mansour to ground out to strand two more runners.
Holding a 5-2 lead entering the ninth, Voss gave up one run in the ninth, but stayed with a comebacker to the mound with two out, knocking it down, then kicking it toward first before picking it up and tossing the ball to Braden Winget to close out the game.
The Mavericks made their 2-0 first-inning lead hold up against CSU Pueblo's Tyler Curtis, who pitched a solid game to give the Pack a chance late. He gave up five runs on 10 hits through 7 2/3 innings, striking out three and walking only one. Jake Olguin-Pacheco retired the only batter he faced in the eighth.
In the first inning, Kolby Felix singled and RMAC co-Player of the Year Robert Sharrar doubled, and both runners scored on an error.
Hara singled and scored on a double by Schoenfeld in the second and Jonathan Gonzalez, another first-team all-conference selection, tripled off the fence in right field to get another run home in the third.
The Mavericks had 10 hits, with Gonzalez going 3 for 4 and Schoenfeld 2 for 5 with a double.
Voss picked up his fourth save of the season with 3 1/3 innings of work, allowing one run on two hits and striking out five.
The Mavericks face Adams State at 3 p.m. Thursday in the second round. The Grizzlies lost 7-2 to Colorado School of Mines in the first game of the day. The ThunderWolves (28-22) play at 11 a.m. Thursday against the loser of the late game between MSU Denver and Regis. Colorado School of Mines faces the winner between the Roadrunners and Rangers at 7 p.m.
