PUEBLO, Colo. (Feb. 15, 2022) – After a valiant comeback attempt that featured six runs in the ninth inning, the Colorado State University Pueblo baseball team (3-5) fell to UCCS (3-6) 11-8 Tuesday afternoon.
 
The ThunderWolves and Mountain Lions were quiet to start the afternoon, both going down in order to start it off. UCCS was able to muster up three runs in the top of the second to break the early stalemate off three hits and a Pack error.
 
The Pack responded with patience at the plate, as Ty Lewis started it off with a walk followed by by a Trey Vasquez single to leftfield. Reggie Williams ensued with a sacrifice bunt to move over his baserunners, but the Mountain Lions committed an error to allow the selfless batter to get aboard safely at first with the bases loaded and no outs.
 
Tyson Pallatt allowed the pitches to come to him and drew a 4-0 walk to put the ThunderWolves on the board with no outs. To the Pack's dismay, the Mountain Lions' pitcher came into his own and struck out the next three CSU Pueblo batters to keep the ThunderWolves in a 3-1 hole after two innings.
 
Jake Lombardelli came back out to the mound for the Pack and retired the UCCS top half of the third in four batters. 
 
Despite a Noah Hennings single and advance to second to kickstart the home half of the third, the Pack could not push him across home plate and CSU Pueblo maintained a 3-1 deficit until the fifth.
 
Lombardelli continued to shut down the Mountain Lions and set the Pack up for success headed into the bottom of the fifth. Hennings kicked off the Pack's fifth with a walk and stolen base. After being moved over to third by Lewis, Vasquez hit a ball to third base to get on board and score Hennings. The Vasquez RBI single put the Pack in a manageable 3-2 hole headed into the sixth.
 
Despite the big fifth, UCCS responded with a bigger sixth. The Mountain Lions logged two doubles in the inning as well as a homer to left. The Pack stopped the bleeding after Reggie Williams gunned down a runner attempting to take another run for UCCS. The Mountain Lions' four-run inning put the Pack into a 7-2 deficit after six.
 
Ruben Portillo and Frank Weirman combined a couple innings that shut down the Mountain Lions offense, but eventually the bats attacked once more with a big four-run inning in the top of the ninth.
 
Despite trailing 11-2 headed into the bottom of the ninth with their backs against the wall, the ThunderWolves' batters came alive at the plate. 
 
With one out in the inning, Jacob Federico made it aboard off an error by the pitcher and started a rally after taking second off a wild pitch. Hennings advanced Federico to third and took second off another stolen base. 
 
Elijah Borjas grounded to third but Federico crossed the plate and added fuel to the Pack's fire. Kysen Howard singled home Hennings and soon advanced to second off a single from Vasquez. 
 
Still with two outs, Williams slapped a double down the leftfield line and scored Howard from second. Pallatt joined in on the two-out rally and batted home Vasquez to pull the pack back within five runs.
 
Brady Ingalls forced the Mountain Lions to turn to their bullpen once again after freshman catcher came through with a single to centerfield and scored Williams and Pallatt. 
 
Unfortunately for the Pack, the UCCS closer came in and shut down the two-out rally after he forced a groundout to the end the game and seal the 11-8 Pack loss.
 
Ingalls and Pallatt led the offensive push for the Pack after each ThunderWolves batter tallied two RBIs apiece. Vasquez led all hitters with three hits in five at-bats. Six Pack batters tallied an RBI on the day.
 
Following the close loss Tuesday evening to UCCS, the Pack look to bounce back with another non-conference four-game series this weekend, as San Francisco State University comes to Rawlings Field. The first pitch of the series is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday afternoon.