GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— A pair of 2-run hits were the difference as the MSU Billings pitching staff held the Colorado Mesa University Maverick baseball team without a hit for the final seven innings in a 5-1 Yellowjacket victory on Saturday afternoon here at The Diamond and Bus Bergman Field.
The victory allowed the visitors to prevent a 4-game series sweep while moving to 9-7 overall.
The Mavs, who recorded 40 hits while scoring 35 runs in the first three games of the series, won the series, 3-1, but slipped to 7-7 overall, after recording just three hits in Saturday's contest.
CMU made some fine defensive plays in the early going and took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
They manufactured the run on a
Joey Blank RBI groundout that plated lead-off hitter
Paul Schoenfeld, who doubled down the left field line before moving to third on a
Kolby Felix single.
However, the Mavs were unable to do more damage and left two runners on base in the first and another in the second after
Kennedy Hara singled to right with two outs.
After neither team scored in the third, the 'Jackets then went up 2-1 in the fourth on a Jack Nehler homer to center field.
Meanwhile, MSUB starting pitcher Sam Coxen overcame his first-inning jitters to shut down the Maverick bats, retiring 11 of 12 batters in the third through sixth innings while getting a double play to retire the other.
The Yellow Jackets then went up 4-1 in the top of the seventh as Bodee Wright delivered a 2-run single through the right side with the bases loaded.
Coxen then gave way to Hayden Mullins, who pitched a nearly perfect seventh and eighth innings. Andy Evans then retired the Mavs in order in the ninth to complete the victory after Yellow Jacket catcher Jarret Elmer hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth to complete the scoring.
Coxen improved to 1-1 on the season after striking out three Mavericks in six innings while giving up just three hits and the game's opening run.
JJ Almeda (0-1) took the loss for CMU after pitching 3-plus innings before surrendering Wright's homer, which prompted a call to the bullpen.
Four Mavericks relievers worked on the mound and surrendered just one hit each.
David Craig recorded four strikeouts in his 2 2/3 innings of work.
The Mavs will now prepare for the start of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play next weekend and will play a 4-game, Friday through Sunday series at New Mexico Highlands in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
