POMONA, Calif. – The Colorado Mesa baseball team dropped a hard fought 3-2 decision to the host Cal Poly Pomona Broncos on Friday (Feb. 7) evening at a damp Scolinos Field.
 
The Broncos took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning as they scored all three runs on no hits. They benefitted from a pair of errors in the inning along with two walks and a hit batter. Two of the runs that came around to score occurred on a failed pickoff attempt at first base with the bases loaded.
 
The Mavericks began to claw back into the game in the top half of the third inning as Kolby Felix drove in Paul Schoenfeld on a single to right field. That made the score 3-1 through three innings of play.
 
Colorado Mesa got one more back in the top half of the fifth inning as Schoenfeld led off the inning with a triple to right center field and later scored on a slow chopper by Joey Blank to cut the lead to 3-2.
 
That score would hold for the final four frames as both pitching staffs shut the other down. The two teams combined to have just three hits in the final four innings of play.
 
Liam Hohenstein was saddled with the loss as he allowed three runs (no earned) on three hits, walked two and struck out four in 78 pitches.
 
His relief came from the big lefty in Caleb Ruter. The senior pitched the final four innings and allowed just two hits, walked one and struck out four.
 
Schoenfeld was the lone Maverick with multiple hits. The lefty finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a triple.
 
The two teams will conclude the series with a single nine-inning game tomorrow afternoon beginning at 1pm mountain time at Scolinos Field.