GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Colorado Mesa got a stellar relief appearance from JJ Almeda and a grand slam from Paul Schoenfeld on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the RMAC Tournament at The Diamond at Hamilton Ballpark.
The No. 12 Mavericks (37-11) claimed a workmanlike 9-3 victory over the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs.
Schoenfeld, who extended his hitting streak to 27 games with the fourth-inning home run into the CMU bullpen beyond the left field wall, added a leadoff single in the eighth. It was the center fielder's eighth home run of the season and gave the Mavericks a 5-0 lead.
It followed a pair of walks and a hit batter by UCCS starter Ryder Mancuso, a Palisade High School product. Mancuso (5-3) took the loss, allowing six runs on seven hits in four innings. He walked four and struck out two.
Ethan Nunez singled home the first run of the game in the third inning before Schoenfeld's big hit. In the fifth, Joey Blank and Stevenson Reynolds hit back-to-back singles to put the Mavs up 7-1.
CMU starter Andrew Pogue ran into trouble in the fifth inning, with three straight walks to lead off the inning. Ethan Voss came in from the bullpen and allowed a sacrifice fly, but shut down the Mountain Lions' rally attempt.
In the sixth, UCCS scored twice and had the bases loaded against Voss (8-1), bringing closer JJ Almeda out of the pen with two out. He needed only four pitches to strike out Vander Hodges, then gave up only two singles the rest of the way, striking out six of the 12 batters he faced for his third save of the season.
Another Palisade grad, Joshua Zotto, relieved Mancuso in the fifth and pitched two shutout innings.
Kolby Felix followed Schoenfeld's base hit in the eighth with his 13th home run of the season, a shot to straightaway center for a 9-3 lead.
Nine of Colorado Mesa's 11 hits were singles, but the Mavericks stole five bases, two by Nunez, and defensively turned a pair of double plays. Schoenfeld, Cameron Cartwright and Reynolds had two hits each.
The top-seeded Mavericks face third-seeded CSU Pueblo at 3 p.m. Thursday. The ThunderWolves fell 15-10 to No. 4 seed MSU Denver in the opening game of the tournament.
