DENVER, Colo. – On the final day of the regular season, the No. 1 Colorado Mesa baseball team swept a doubleheader from the MSU Denver Roadrunners on Saturday (May 2) afternoon at the Assembly Athletic Complex.
In the day's opening game, the Mavericks led a majority of the game before an offensive explosion in the eighth inning gave them a comfortable 9-3 win over the Roadrunners.
Colorado Mesa took the lead for good in the fifth inning on a
Kolby Felix home run that gave them a 3-2 lead after five complete.
The Mavericks scored five runs in the eighth inning on a pair of home runs and a pair of RBI doubles to take an 8-2 lead after eight innings.
Kennedy Hara led the inning off with a solo home run and
Tate Blasi hit the second of two home runs in the game just one batter later.
Later in the inning,
Rocco DiFrancesco hit a two-run double before
Cameron Cartwright had the final RBI of the inning with a ground rule double to left center.
Blasi finished the game 4-for-5 with three runs scored and two runs driven in. His first home run of the game came in the fourth inning that gave the Mavericks a 2-0 lead at the time. Blasi now has nine home runs on the season after missing several weeks with an injury.
Trevor Tse finished the game 3-for-3 while Cartwright, Hara, and
Joey Blank each finished with multi-hit games.
Rafael Espinoza earned the start and picked up the win on the mound. Espinoza allowed two runs on two hits, walked one and struck out five to move his record to 5-0.
Gabe Jacobs and
Sage Ferguson pitched in relief and allowed three hits and a run over four innings. Jacobs struck out seven in his three innings of work.
In the night cap, six Maverick pitchers combined to allow just one run on one hit in a 10-1 win over MSU Denver.
CJ Zwahlen got the start on the mound and allowed the one run on one hit in two innings of work.
Bridger Clontz,
Justin Schramm,
Logan Gross,
Simon Lunsford, and
Abe Ahlberg combined to pitch the final five hitless innings. Clontz earned the win to move to 2-0 on the season.
For the second straight seven inning game, the Mavericks scored in five of the seven innings they batted in. They scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to put the game out of reach despite the dominant pitching performance.
Noah Neufeld swung a hot bat for the Mavericks as he went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three runs driven in. He hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning for his third of the season.
Kolby Felix finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
The Mavericks finish the regular season with a 45-4 overall record and 31-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament begins on Wednesday at The Diamond at Hamilton Ballpark with games beginning at 11am. The Mavericks are currently scheduled to play at 7pm against the No. 6 seed who is yet to be determined.
