PUEBLO, Colo. (April 12, 2019) – It took 12 innings, but Colorado State University-Pueblo Baseball wound up on the wrong side of a 9-8 final Friday at Rawlings Field.
With two walks,
Gilbert Sauceda (Sr., Indio, Calif.) broke the Pack's career record in free passes. Sauceda now has 136 career bases on balls, a new program record He finished 3-for-5 with a double. The Pack's leadoff scored twice.
Rion Santamaria (Jr., Yorba Linda, Calif.) slugged a pair of doubles. He went 3-for-6 with a pair of RBIs. Santamaria also scored a run.
Beau Brieske (Jr., Chandler, Ariz.) had the strikeout pitch working. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's K's leader sat down 11 Orediggers on strikes. He exited with the lead, but finished with a no decision.
Dakota Popham (Sr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) reached base three times. Popham doubled and walked twice. He scored twice and drove in two runs.
Connor Hughes (Sr., Phoenix, Ariz.) recorded his first multi-hit game of the season. Hughes went 2-for-5 with a walk.
The Orediggers jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a home run in the first. The Pack answered with five runs in the bottom of the first.
Sauceda started the bottom of the first with his record-breaking 135
th career walk. Santamaria singled home Sauceda.
Daniel Abiles (Jr., Chandler, Ariz.) slugged a three-run double to bring in
Easton Adler (Jr., Mead, Colo.), Popham, and Santamaria. Abiles scored on an error to put the Pack up 5-1 after one.
Mines battled back with two runs in the third. They added one run in the fifth. With the bases loaded, in the top of the fifth, Brieske got a strikeout to keep the Pack in front 5-4.
The Orediggers took control with a three-run seventh including their second dinger of the day. They tacked on one run in the eighth to make it 8-5.
Down to their final three outs, the Pack fought back. Popham whacked a two-run double that brought the Pack back within one. A Santamaria double tied the game at eight and put the winning run just 90 feet away. The Pack could not push that winning run across as the Orediggers got the final two outs with the bases loaded.
The Orediggers broke the tie in the 12th. Mines scored on a wild pitch that gave them a 9-8 lead. They would hang on in the bottom of the 12th to take game one of the series.
The ThunderWolves' record evened up at 17-17. They are 12-9 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. Mines improved to 23-9 (14-7 RMAC).
CSU-Pueblo and Mines will meet again in a doubleheader Saturday. First pitch of game one is slated for 1 p.m. at Rawlings Field.
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Colorado State University – Pueblo competes in 22 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.
