EMPORIA, Kan. (Feb. 11, 2022) – The Colorado State University Pueblo baseball team (3-2) took two wins of 5-0 and 2-1 over Emporia State (2-3) in a doubleheader sweep Friday afternoon. The ThunderWolves were led by two stellar performances on the mound by starters Zach Pratt (1-0) and Tim McIntyre (1-0).

Head Coach Bobby Applegate said, "Overall, we played solid team baseball. We has two quality starts and did a good job of controlling the strike zone early." Applgate continued by saying, " We got some timely hitting and played very good defense in windy conditions. I was very pleased with the way our players competed today."
 
Game 1 | CSU Pueblo 5 – Emporia State 0
 
CSU Pueblo's opening game of the doubleheader against the Emporia State opened up with the looks of a pitcher's duel. The ThunderWolves got one aboard in the first via an error, and the Hornets squeezed a single off Pratt, but after a frame, the score was an even 0-0.
 
In the second inning, the ThunderWolves were able to get their offense going. After Matt Shea was hit by a pitch, Trey Vasquez batted him over to third off a double to right. Two batters later, Tyson Pallatt blasted a three-run shot over the right field wall to blow the game wide-open 3-0. 
 
The Pack's offensive rout did not stop there. Still with one out in the second, Jacob Federico hit a single and stole second. Noah Hennings was hit by a pitch and was followed up by a Reggie Williams RBI single that scored Federico. Finally, Brady Prewitt hit Hennings home from third and topped off the five-run inning to take an early 5-0 lead.
 
Pratt then came back out onto the mound and shut the Hornets' bats down. Through his final 4.1 innings on the hill, Pratt surrendered no hits while back-up from his defense played clean ball and prevented any momentum from being formed. Pratt finished his 5.1 innings pitched with five strikeouts and two hits surrendered.
 
Despite the Pack bats not producing a mass-amount of hits, the ThunderWolves' defense held down the 5-0 lead after Pratt was relieved by Frank Wierman. Wierman went on the mound and pitched lights out on the Emporia State, surrendering only two hits and striking out three on 1.2 innings.
 
Head Coach, Bobby Applegate addressed the game one win by saying, "Zach set the tone with his command of the strike zone and we got some timely hitting in the second by Trey Vasquez and Tyson Pallatt with a three-run homer."
 
Vasquez hit 3-4 in the early afternoon game to lead the ThunderWolves' hitters. Pallatt accounted for three Pack RBIs thanks to his second-inning blast. 
 
Game 2 | CSU Pueblo 2 – Emporia State 1
 
In game two of the doubleheader, CSU Pueblo looked to carry over its strong defensive play. After the Pack went down in four batters in the first, McIntyre wasted no time in the home half, as the hurler notched a strikeout and retired the side in eight pitches.
 
Pallatt woke up the bats in the second inning after getting a one-out single and then moving to second on a stolen base. With two outs in the top of the second, Manny Sierra took care of Pallatt and scored him from second base with a double to left centerfield. 
 
After McIntyre made quick work of the Hornets in the bottom half, the Pack entered the third inning ahead 1-0. 
 
The game remained quiet again until the top of the fourth inning. Pallatt once again singled and was batted over thanks to a Cole Knightley bunt single. Pallatt raced his way to third off another stolen base and was soon hit in by Sierra.
 
McIntyre surrendered his first hit in the bottom of the fourth but came back with a dominant three-pitch strikeout to thwart the two-out threat by the Hornets.
 
After a scoreless top of the fifth, McIntyre threw one more perfect inning before he was relieved with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. Dylan Weaver came on in relief and sat down the home half threat.
 
The ThunderWolves hitters looked for more insurance on the bases but could not break loose of the Hornets' defense.
 
Weaver came back out for the final home half and looked to shut down Emporia State's middle-order batters. An error kicked off the inning for the Hornets but the Pack did not panic. After getting two outs with runners on first and third, the Hornets crossed their first run of the day off a single. Weaver rebounded with the final batter and forced a groundout to Knightley to clinch the doubleheader sweep for the ThunderWolves.
 
Pallatt went 3-3 in the late afternoon game to lead the Pack batters. McIntyre finished his 5.1 innings pitched with three strikeouts and two hits allowed to earn his first win of the young season. Weaver sealed his first career save on the mound.
 
CSU Pueblo will be back at it Saturday at noon as the team looks to keep it going with a nine inning showdown with the Hornets.