GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The top-ranked Colorado Mesa baseball team swept a doubleheader from the UCCS Mountain Lions on Saturday (Apr. 11) afternoon at The Diamond at Hamilton Ballpark.
The Mavericks run their season record to 37-3 and extended their winning streak to 19 games.
After a 40-minute lightning delay to start the day,
Rafael Espinoza pitched six innings of one-run ball to boost the Mavericks to a 5-1 win over the Mountain Lions.
The junior allowed one unearned on three hits, walked one and struck out three after throwing just 78 pitches. Espinoza improved his record to 3-0 on the season.
After trailing 1-0 heading to the bottom of the third,
Kolby Felix tied it up at 1-1 after a RBI single to left field.
The Mavericks built on their lead in the fourth inning with an RBI single from
Landon Nunes and a perfectly executed safety squeeze by
Kennedy Hara to make it 3-1.
Colorado Mesa added some extra insurance in the fifth inning on a RBI double by
Cameron Cartwright and a run scoring single by
Trevor Tse to make it 5-1.
Tse and
Ezra Farmer each had multi-hit games for the Mavericks.
In the night cap, Colorado Mesa held off a late comeback attempt by the Mountain Lions in a 4-3 victory to secure the series over UCCS.
The Mavericks led 4-0 after five complete innings but UCCS plated two in the sixth inning and one in the seventh before
Sage Ferguson slammed the door shut on his fifth save of the season.
They scored two runs in the second with RBIs off the bats of
Rocco DiFrancesco and
Kolby Felix before
Tate Blasi had an RBI double in the third inning. Blasi sent the 11
th pitch of the at-bat down the line in right field for the double.
Colorado Mesa picked up an insurance run in the fifth inning on a solo home run from
Trevor Tse to make it 4-0 at the time. Tse was the lone Maverick to have multiple hits in the game.
Jackson Eisenhauer ran his season record to 6-1 on the season after another quality start. The freshman allowed two runs on three hits, walked one and struck out six in six complete innings of work.
Sage Ferguson came in for the save and allowed one run on two hits in the seventh.
The two teams will finish the series on Sunday with a single nine-inning game beginning at 12pm from The Diamond.
