GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — There's a reason Colorado Mesa baseball coach Chris Hanks will holler "play hard!" from the dugout on what appears to be a routine play with two out.
A dropped fly ball in center field Thursday opened the door for the No. 12 Mavericks, scoring two runs to tie the game in their 9-6 come-from-behind victory over CSU Pueblo in the quarterfinals of the RMAC Tournament at The Diamond at Hamilton Ballpark. The loss eliminated the third-seeded ThunderWolves (32-20).
That fly ball off the bat of Kolby Felix was tracked by CSU Pueblo's Logan Kelly, but it bounced out of his glove. Both Kennedy Hara and Paul Schoenfeld were sprinting on contact and scored to tie the game at 5-5, and Felix ended up at second base.
Not only did that error allow the Mavericks to tie the game, it extended the inning and brought Cameron Cartwright to the plate. Colorado Mesa's home run leader launched his 16th of the season to left field, clearing the bullpen and landing in the parking lot, deep enough that CMU's tracking system couldn't estimate the distance.
The two-run shot put CMU up 7-5, and after Kelly responded with a solo home run in the sixth, the Mavs (38-11) added a pair of insurance runs on Declan Wiesner's two-run single past a drawn-in infield in the eighth.
With one out, Cartwright doubled to left, Ethan Nunez was hit by a pitch, and after a pitching change, Cartwright moved to third on a failed pickoff by Tyler Clementz. Nunez stole second and the ThunderWolves (32-20) brought the infield in, but Wiesner bounced his second hit of the game over second base to get both runners across.
Four Colorado Mesa pitchers combined to strike out only four batters — winner Aidan Biaggi (2-0) and Jordan Ellison fanned two each, but the Mavs did not walk a batter. Sage Ferguson was touched for five runs in 2.2 innings, four coming across in the third to erase an early 2-1 Colorado Mesa lead. Tristan Wolf closed it out, retiring three of four batters in the ninth for his first save of the season.
CMU chased starter Jacob Petersheim after seven batters in the first inning. He walked two and hit one to score the Mavs' two runs, but CMU left the bases loaded, the first of two innings the Mavs stranded three — they left 10 on base in the game. The Mavericks drew four walks and five batters were hit, including Nunez taking two for the team.
Schoenfeld finished 2 for 5, extending his hitting streak to 28 games, three shy of Joe Dirnberger's program record, Cartwright was 3 for 5, scored three runs and drove in two, with Wiesner collecting a pair of hits and two RBI.
The ThunderWolves are No. 4 in this week's South Central Region rankings, just behind No. 3 Colorado Mesa, and will have to wait until Sunday night to see if they will receive an at-large bid.
The RMAC Tournament is now down to a four-team field, with the top-seeded Mavericks playing fourth-seeded MSU Denver at 11 a.m. on Friday in the winners' bracket semifinal. The Roadrunners upended second-seeded Regis 9-0 in Thursday's late game.
In the elimination bracket, Regis faces fifth-seeded Adams State at 3 p.m. Friday. That winner plays another elimination game at 7 p.m. against the semifinal loser. The Grizzlies knocked CU-Colorado Springs out of the field with a 6-4 win in the first game of the day.
The title game is at 1 p.m. Saturday, with a second game, if necessary, to follow at 5 p.m. The RMAC Tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the South Central Regional playoffs. Regis is No. 5 in the region, MSU Denver No. 8.
