PUEBLO, Colo. (GoThunderWolves.com – Mar. 28, 2014) — Eight different hitters recorded RBI hits as the Colorado State University-Pueblo ThunderWolves scored multiple runs in each of the first four innings to build a 12-3 lead before holding on for a 14-10 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win over visiting Colorado Christian University in the first night home game of the Pack's season on Friday here at Rawlings Field.
The ThunderWolves snapped a 3-game slide with the victory and improved to 13-13 overall and to 9-6 in RMAC play. The Cougars, who scored seven unearned runs to come back to within 12-10 in the top of the eight, lost their sixth straight falling to 5-20 overall and to 4-11 in conference play.
The victory was also the 699th Stan Sanchez's 21-year career as the Pack's head coach and puts him on the precipice of becoming the RMAC's first coach in any sport to reach the 700 win mark. He will attempt to reach that milestone when the teams continue the 4-game weekend series with a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at 1 p.m.
On Friday, the ThunderWolves banged out eight extra-base hits, including three triples, to build a large 12-3 lead. A sixth-inning error then proved costly as the Cougars scored five unearned runs to cut the ThunderWolves' edge to 12-8. They then scored three more unearned runs in the eighth and had the tying run at the plate before reliever Thomas Bevington (Jr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) got out of the inning.
Reserve left-fielder JJ Ortiz (So., Pueblo, Colo.) then plated two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth to extend CSU-Pueblo's lead to 14-10 before Doug Finley (Jr., Bermuda Dunes, Calif.) struck out the Cougar side in the top of the ninth to complete the win.
Although the bats went quiet in the middle stages of the game, the Pack were racing from the start as a Dominick Bregar (So., Pueblo, Colo.) hit the first of his two triples to plate lead-off man Mario Sanchez (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.) with the game's first run.
After giving up another run on an error in the bottom of the first, the Cougars then came back to take a 3-2 lead as they scored three runs on five hits in the top of the second. However, the Pack came back with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to re-take a 6-3 lead.
They then added two more runs in the third and four in the fourth, including two on a Dillon Thomas (So., Pueblo, Colo.) single.
Chasing Cougar starter and eventual loser Austin Atkerson, who gave up 15 hits and 12 earned runs, the Pack then were quieted by reliever Nolan McLaughlin who retired nine straight ThunderWolf hitters in the fifth, sixth and seventh.
Meanwhile, Mike Fabrizio (Sr., Pueblo, Colo.), who earned the win for his fifth straight start while improving to an RMAC-best 5-1 on the year, struck out eight Cougars through six innings. He allowed just three earned runs and a walk but was roughed up for 12 hits, including five in the top of the sixth after a dropped fly in left field.
Three more ThunderWolf errors in the top of the eighth then allowed CCU to close the gap to 12-10 before a caught stealing got Bevington and the Pack out of the jam.
The Pack then loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth, thanks in part to a pair of walks, before Ortiz, who had come in defensively, plated the two insurance runs with a single to right.
Mike Wagner (Jr., Golden, Colo.) led the ThunderWolves with three hits and scored a pair of runs while Bregar went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI while drawing a walk.
The Pack have now won 29 of the 30 all-time meetings with CCU.
