GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The No. 12 Colorado Mesa University baseball team played to a doubleheader sweep over the visiting Quincy University Hawks this afternoon as they claimed the series win at The Diamond at Hamilton Ballpark.
The Mavericks won by scores of 8-6 and 6-2 in the two-game affair with the first game being nine innings and the second being seven.
This comes as the Mavs' first series win of the year as well as they now own an early season record of 5-2 and are on a four-game winning streak.
In the opening game of the day the Mavs used key hitting in the third and fifth innings to propel themselves to a victory while relying on strong bullpen performances which allowed just one run through the final six innings.
Quincy jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the beginning of the game as they were able to force CMU to go to their bullpen in just the second inning.
The Mavs responded, scoring two in the bottom of the frame though as a Kolby Felix tripled in a pair.
The Hawks managed a solo home run in the top of the third to bring the game to a three-run difference before the Mavs went on to score four runs in the bottom of the inning.
Landon Nunes, Joey Blank, Kennedy Hara, Rocco DiFrancesco and Brooks Bachman all collected hits during the time with Blank, DiFrancesco and Bachman each having RBIs.
The Mavs added another pair in the fifth inning after five straight batters reached base to open the frame with both Bachman and Felix earning the RBIs on walks.
The Hawks got a run back in the seventh but were limited to just one hit over the final two innings to end the game as the Mavs shut the door.
Relief pitching by the group of Aidan Biaggi, Gabe Jacobs and CJ Zwahlen allowed just three hits and two runs over the final 7.2 innings of play as they combined for 10 strikeouts.
Biaggi earned the win going 3.2 of those innings while Zwahlen got his first save of the season, pitching a scoreless final three innings.
Four Mavs finished with multi-hit performances as well with the team recording 11 hits in total. Felix led the group with three RBIs himself.
Continuing the trend of timely hitting in the nightcap, the Mavs were able to rally late and large against Hawks to win the series as they scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning after trailing 2-1 with just six outs remaining.
Through the first five innings of the game the score was just 2-1 in favor of Quincy with dominant pitching leading the way for both squads.
The Mavs got their lone run during that time in the third inning thanks to a wild pitch allowing Kolby Felix to score after reaching on a double down the left field line.
Quincy scored their two runs oppositely from a solo home run in the second inning and then on a double play in the fifth.
Their run in the fifth came after the Hawks loaded the bases and forced CMU to go to their bullpen but strong relief pitching from Cayden Clark limited them to just the one run before the Mavs exploded offensively in the bottom of the sixth.
It was in that sixth inning that eight different batters for Colorado Mesa reached base with three of them collecting hits.
Cameron Cartwright opened the frame with a walk before being moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and a single by Joey Blank with Kennedy Hara then driving him in on a fielder's choice to second base.
Rocco DiFrancesco followed with an RBI single to bring in another run from Blank before Trevor Tse and Ezra Farmer later brought in the final two runs of the inning on an error and a single.
Clark faced just four batters in the top of the seventh before ending the game. He earned the win in relief going three innings with three strikeouts and allowing just one walk.
He pieced together the outing of Rafael Espinoza who went the first four innings while allowing just four hits, four runs (two earned), one walk and striking out four.
As an offense the Mavs recorded seven hits with both Felix and DiFrancesco leading the squad going 2-4 each.
The Mavs will look to sweep the Hawks when they finish the 4-game series tomorrow at 12 p.m.
