GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (May 9, 2019) – Colorado State University-Pueblo Baseball's late rally was not enough to get past No. 29 Colorado School of Mines as the Orediggers outlasted the Pack 6-4 Thursday in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament.
The loss brings the Pack's 25th season since the program restarted to a close. The ThunderWolves finished the year 26-25. Head Coach
Stan Sanchez now has 862 career victories in his 25 years at the helm of the Pack.
Robbie Espinosa (Sr., Yorba Linda, Calif.) made his last at bat with the Pack count. Espinosa slugged a three-run home run in the ninth inning. He hit five home runs this season.
Rion Santamaria (Jr., Yorba Linda, Calif.) had the Pack's only multi-hit game. He went 2-for-5.
Playing in their final Pack games,
Connor Hughes (Sr., Phoenix, Ariz.) and
Dakota Popham (Sr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) each reached base twice with a hit and a walk. Popham also scored a run.
Gil Sauceda (Sr., Indio, Calif.) wrapped up his Pack career with a 1-for-5 day. He will graduate as the RMAC's all-time leader in career walks at 154. In 199 career games, Sauceda hit .353 with a .475 OBP.
Josh Dahl (Sr., Glendale, Ariz.) threw 6.1 innings, striking out four batters. He took the loss to even his record at 5-5.
The Pack bullpen threw 2.2 innings and only yielded one unearned run.
Justin Jaime (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) went 0.2 scoreless innings, while
Brett Matthews (Jr., Queen Creek, Ariz.) and
Gunner Pickett (Jr., Longmont, Colo.) each threw one inning of relief.
Colorado School of Mines started the scoring in the third. They added one run in the fourth and three in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead.
Down 5-0, the Pack had a tough time getting to Walter Pennington. In the sixth inning. The ThunderWolves loaded the bases, but could not push a run across. The Orediggers concluded their scoring in the eighth with an isolated run that made it 6-0.
CSU-Pueblo finally got on the board in the bottom of the eighth. Popham singled.
Daniel Abiles (Jr., Chandler, Ariz.) drove in Popham with a base knock of his own to make it 6-1.
In the bottom of the ninth.
Kodee Martin (Jr., Platte City, Mo.) singled, but a fielder's choice replaced him at first with Sauceda.
Adrian Martinez (Jr., Tucson, Ariz.) came through with a base hit of his own. Down to their final out, Espinosa clobbered a Pennington pitch off the left field foul pole for his fifth homer of the year.
Espinosa's three-run blast brought the Pack within striking distance. However, they could not complete the comeback as Mines advanced with a 6-4 win.
The loss eliminated the Pack from their 11th consecutive postseason appearance. CSU-Pueblo outhit Mines 10-9. The Pack left 10 runners on base.
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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
