PUEBLO, Colo. (GoThunderWolves.com – Feb. 16, 2014) – A pair of 3-run innings lifted the Colorado State University-Pueblo baseball team to an 8-5 Sunday afternoon win over the University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) and allowed the Pack to take two out of three games for the second straight weekend at Rawlings Field.
The ThunderWolves, who improved to 4-2 on the year, scored three times in the third to build a 3-1 lead and then scored three more runs in the fifth to break a 4-4 dead-lock en-route to the victory over the now 1-2 Cougars.
Four different ThunderWolves tallied two hits as the 2-3-4 portion of the lineup went a combined 6-for-12 with three runs and three RBI.
Meanwhile, seven different Pack pitchers worked as veteran coach Stan Sanchez worked a strategic game to near perfection. The bullpen, which continues to shine, allowed just three hits and an unearned run in 4 1/3 innings of combined work.
After the Cougars scored the opening run in the top of the first, a leadoff single by first baseman Dominick Bregar (So., Pueblo, Colo.) in the third, set up the first big inning. Bregar, one of the four Pack players to record two hits, then moved to second on a Scott Hoyt (Sr., Longmont, Colo.) single before going to third on an Evan Kenebrew (Sr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) walk.
He then scored on a Cougar error before a Derek Goodwin (Jr., Diamond Bar, Calif.) RBI hit by pitch and a Chris Ramsey (Jr., Westminster, Colo.) bases-loaded walk put the ThunderWolves up 3-1.
The teams would then trade runs in the fourth before a Jeremey Varner RBI double and Trevor Crow RBI single tied the game at 3 forcing Pack starter Victor Soto (Jr., Whittier, Calif.) out of the game with two outs in the top of the fifth.
Jake Busch (Jr., Frankfort, Ill.), making his third 1-batter appearance of the season, would get the ensuing groundout to get out of the jam before an Austin Mascorro (Jr., Oxnard, Calif.) triple, a run-scoring wild-pitch and a RBI double by Bregar allowed the Pack to take the lead for good.
Adding a later fifth-inning run on a Hoyt sacrifice fly and a unearned run in the sixth to go up 8-4, the Pack then turned to the bullpen as four different pitchers threw a combined two scoreless innings and just 35 pitches before reigning RMAC Pitcher of the Week Lonny Schoon (Sr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) tallied a pair of strikeouts in the final two innings.
Busch was credited with the win while Noah Coleman suffered the loss for the Cougars.
CSU-Pueblo registered 10 hits overall and drew six walks. Each of the three Cougar pitchers also hit a Pack player.
CSU-Pueblo did leave 11 runners on base but out-hit the Cougars 10-7. Four Cougar errors also contributed to the visitors' woes, as three of the Pack's runs were unearned.
At home for their first six, the Pack will now go on the road for three straight weekends and 12 games starting at Cal Baptist, off to a quick 10-0 start to the season. The first game of that 4-game series in the Lancers' Totman Stadium is slated for 6 p.m. (PST) on Thursday (Feb. 20) in Riverside, Calif.
