GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa baseball team staved off elimination from the NCAA Tournament after a huge pitching performance and three big offensive innings in a 20-4 win over the UT Tyler Patriots on Friday (May 22) evening at The Diamond at Hamilton Ballpark.
Senior lefthander
Caleb Ruter had a pitching performance for the record books. Ruter threw 139 pitches in a complete game performance for his eighth win of the season. He allowed four runs on eight hits, walked two and struck out a career-high 10 batters in his final pitching performance in Grand Junction.
The Arvada, Colo. native faced at least one baserunner in eight of the nine innings but worked out of each relatively unharmed. The only 1-2-3 inning he had came in the bottom of the third where he had a ground out, a fly out and a line out.
He struck out the side in the bottom of the second and it was the only inning where he had more than one strikeout. Then, it was only fitting that he retired the final batter of the game with a strikeout on his 139
th pitch which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Ruter had plenty of run support in his start as the Mavericks exploded for three big innings in the game. They scored nine runs in the second, four runs in the fourth and seven runs in the top of the ninth.
They chased Patriot starter Julio Garcia after just an inning and a third.
The nine-run second inning was fueled by back-to-back home runs in the frame.
Jackson Lapiner delivered a grand slam followed by a solo shot from
Kennedy Hara. After it was all said and done, Colorado Mesa scored nine runs on five hits with three walks and a hit by pitch in the inning.
In the fourth, the Mavericks plated four runs highlighted by a
Joey Blank single up the middle that brought in a pair of runs.
Colorado Mesa scored seven runs in the ninth inning thanks in large part to a two-run single by
Ezra Farmer.
Leadoff man
Tate Blasi finished 4-for-4 with two runs driven in while
Kennedy Hara went 4-for-4 with four runs scored and two runs driven in.
Joey Blank went 1-for-4 with three runs scored and three runs driven in.
Eight of the nine Maverick starters finished with a hit.
The series is now tied at a game a side and will now move to a winner-take-all game three that will take place tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM.
