GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Preston Winget's grand slam sparked Colorado Mesa's baseball team to an 8-4 victory over rival CSU-Pueblo on Sunday in the first game of an RMAC doubleheader, but the Mavs couldn't sustain the momentum.
The ThunderWolves rode a tie-breaking home run to salvage a split on the day, winning the second game 6-4.
Clutch hitting allowed the Mavericks (13-8, 6-1 RMAC) to come back from a 4-0 deficit in the opener, but those clutch hits became routine — and not-so-routine – fly balls and groundouts in the nightcap. They left the bases loaded in the first inning, settling for a 1-1 tie instead of putting up a big inning.
In the first game, the ThunderWolves (11-10, 1-2) used a three-run home run to take a 4-0 lead in the third inning, then got out of a jam in the bottom of the frame when the Mavs loaded the bases with two out. Christos Stefanos, though, hit a ground ball to short to force the runner at second and end that threat.
In the fourth, however, CMU got the first three batters on base, with Stevenson Reynolds leading off with a single to left-center. Ethan Ezor walked and Declan Wiesner beat out a bunt single down the third-base line.
Winget, who got the start in left field, crushed a home run to left-center to tie the game. A two-run double by Wiesner in the fifth made it 6-4 and the Mavericks added an insurance run in the sixth when back-to-back singles by Reynolds and Ezor got pinch-runner Jackson Helberg across.
Reynolds and Ezor both went 3 for 3 and Winget drove in five runs on his two hits.
Tyler Glowacki picked up his first win of the season with three shutout innings in relief of starter Ethan Voss. Glowacki allowed only one hit, walked one and struck out four. Tristan Wolf closed things out with a pair of strikeouts in the seventh.
Paul Schoenfeld gave the Mavericks a jolt in the top of the first inning when he tracked a deep fly ball off the bat of Kysen Howard to the wall, timing his jump perfectly to rob the Pack of a three-run home run.
The CSU Pueblo outfielders were making some outstanding catches in the second game, most notably right fielder Elijah Borjas, who ran down a couple of balls headed for the corner and made an outstanding diving catch of another.
Like the opening game of the day, it was 4-4 after three innings, with CSU Pueblo starter Nick Perry struggling with is control, hitting Reynolds and Kolby Felix in back-to-back plate appearances. Hitting Reynolds loaded the bases, and Felix picked up a painful RBI.
Josh Romans hit a solo home run in the second for the Mavs after starting pitcher Liam Hohenstein (2-3) surrendered a two-out walk, hit a batter and gave up a two-run double. Romans' home run, his third of the season, cut the deficit to 3-2, but Hohenstein gave up another run in the third.
With two out in the bottom of the third, Felix, Ezor, Rocco DiFrancesco and Kennedy Hara hit consecutive singles to tie the game at 4-4.
Hohenstein hit the leadoff batter in the top of the fourth and then gave up a home run to Nick Williams, ending his day. He gave up six runs on four hits, walked two and struck out five.
Relievers Sage Ferguson and Cayden Clark each worked two hitless innings, combining to strike out seven and walk only one, but the offense couldn't string hits together over the final three innings. After going down in order in the fifth, DiFrancesco led off the sixth with a walk. Reliever Jack Novak hit Kennedy Hara, and Romans bunted both runners into scoring position, getting the Mavs to the top of the batting order.
Schoenfeld and Winget, however, both grounded out to second to end the threat, and the Mavs stranded one man on in the seventh.
Romans' home run was the only extra-base hit for CMU, which out-hit the ThunderWolves 7-4.
The teams will wrap up the four-game series with a 9-inning game Monday starting at noon at The Diamond.
