Box Score PUEBLO, Colo. (April 10, 2016)— Baseball has a way of evening itself out. After two frustrating days of hard-hit balls and little to show for it, the Colorado State University-Pueblo baseball team was the beneficiary of a lucky bounce Sunday that helped it salvage the series finale in a 4-2 win against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival, No. 2 ranked Colorado Mesa University.
With the Pack trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the eight, runners on second and third and one out, junior shortstop Taylor Snyder (Elk Ridge, Utah) topped a seemingly harmless two-hopper on a check-swing to Mavericks pitcher Josh Ballard, who promptly turned and airmailed the throw to first base into the Pack bullpen.
The first error committed during the four-game series by Mavericks (31-6 overall, 21-3 RMAC) proved extremely costly as senior Dominick Bregar (Pueblo, Colo.) and junior Oliver Jackson (Mission Viejo, Calif.) trotted home from third and second base, respectively, while Snyder hustled all the way around to score on the play to give CSU-Pueblo (21-10 overall, 15-5 RMAC) a 4-2 lead.
Bregar, who went 3-for-4 on the day, and fellow senior Jordan Godman (Las Vegas, Nev.) helped ignite the four-run eighth inning as Godman led off with a double and came home on Bregar's RBI single up the middle.
The unsung hero on the afternoon for the Pack was junior starting pitcher Kyle Peeler (Las Vegas, Nev.) as the right-hander consistently wiggled his way out of jams. None of Peeler's of escapes proved bigger than a bases loaded, no out situation in the seventh.
After two errors and a bunt single loaded the bases, Peeler induced a chopper back to the mound and started a 1-2-3 double play. One batter later, Peeler got CMU catcher Kyle Serrano to ground out and end the threat. Peeler finished with seven innings pitched, allowed two runs, one earned, on eight hits and recorded one strikeout.
Junior reliever Jorge Venegas (Las Lunas, N.M.) earned the win for CSU-Pueblo, improving to 3-1 on the season, after tossing two spotless innings. The right-hander received a little help from his catcher, senior Beau Cebulski (Las Animas, Colo.), in the ninth as Cebulski made a sliding catch on a troublesome infield pop-up to end the game, stranding Mavericks baserunners at first and second.
With the win, the Pack ended a four-game losing streak. They'll look to carry the momentum of knocking off the No. 2 team in the country into next weekend's four-game road series against the Colorado School of Mines. The first game of the series is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday.
- 30 –
As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Colorado State University – Pueblo competes in 22 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.