GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa baseball team swept a doubleheader from the visiting Montana State Billings Yellowjackets on Friday (Feb. 28) afternoon at The Diamond at the Bus Bergman Sports Complex. The wins bring the Mavericks record back above .500 since the second week of the season.
In game one of the day, the Mavericks pounded out 14 hits and got a another strong pitching performance in a 13-4 win. Eight of the Mavericks 14 hits went for extra bases including a home run off the bat of
Joey Blank.
After a slow first two innings and a Billings two-run homer, the Mavericks knotted the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third before erupting for a seven-run bottom of the fourth inning to take a 9-2 lead.
The Mavericks added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings before scoring two in the bottom of the seventh.
Kolby Felix led the way offensively going 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored while Blank went 2-for-4 with a run scored and three runs driven in. He hit his first collegiate home run in the bottom of the fourth inning, a line shot over the wall in left center field.
Ethan Voss took the ball to begin the day and had another solid outing to pick up his third win of the season. Voss (3-1) allowed two runs on five hits, walked one and struck out four in six innings of work.
Three different relievers pitched the final three innings of the game. Freshman
Alex Jennings made his first collegiate appearance and pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
In the seven-inning night cap, Colorado Mesa banged out 15 more hits including huge efforts from
Paul Schoenfeld and
Rocco DiFrancesco in a 17-5 win over the Yellowjackets.
Schoenfeld finished the game 4-for-4 with four runs scored and four runs driven in. He also had a double and two home runs in the game. His first home run was a two-run shot to right field in the second inning while his second came in the fourth inning, a solo blast to straight away right field.
He added a two-run, flared, single in the fifth inning to finish off his day.
DiFrancesco went 3-for-4 and hit his first home run of the season in the second inning, a no-doubter to left field that gave the Mavericks a 2-0 lead. The Dana Point, Calif. native also slashed a single through the left side of the infield that brought home
Brent Renteria as a part of the eight run fifth inning.
Joey Blank also had his third consecutive multi-hit game.
Liam Hohenstein got the start in game three of the series and came away with his first win of the season. Hohenstein (1-2) allowed one run on four hits, walked three and struck out four in four innings of work. The junior struck out the final two batters he faced in his outing.
Colorado Mesa will go for their first sweep of the season on Saturday as they will play the final game of the series with the Yellowjackets beginning at Noon from The Diamond.
