CANYON, Texas (Feb. 5, 2022) – The Colorado State University Pueblo baseball team kicked off its season Saturday afternoon with an 18-9 win in extra innings over New Mexico Highlands and a 10-3 loss to No. 15 West Texas A&M. The win over the Cowboys marked Bobby Applegate's first career win as a head coach.
 
Game 1 (10 Innings) | CSU Pueblo 18 – New Mexico Highlands 9
 
The ThunderWolves kicked off game one with a boom. After a hit in the first inning and two strikeouts from Zach Pratt on the mound, the offense unloaded in the second. 
 
Ty Lewis and Trey Vasquez struck for back-to-back singles and Kysen Howard was hit by a pitch to start-off the inning. Out of the seven-hole, Tyson Pallatt sat on a pitch and drove the ball into centerfield to score all three runners on-base and get on board with a double. With one out, Noah Hennings smacked a double down the leftfield line and scored Pallatt easily.
 
The Pack struck for a fifth run in the third off a sacrifice fly from Howard to score Lewis from third. Pratt shut down the Cowboys in the bottom half to tally six strikeouts after three innings and took the Pack into the fourth inning leading 5-0.
 
After a scoreless fourth from both sides, Pallatt tallied another RBI to score Lewis off a single through the left side. The Cowboys responded big. In the bottom half, New Mexico Highlands pushed two runs across and followed it up with five more in the bottom of the sixth.
 
The five-run inning put the Pack behind 7-6. Pallatt came back up to the plate in the top-half of the seventh and scored Howard from first base to log his fifth RBI on the afternoon and tie it back up at seven runs apiece.
 
Dylan Weaver took over duties on the mound and shut down the Cowboys in the home half of the seventh to keep it locked at 7-7.
 
The ThunderWolves offense was not finished and took two more runs for themselves in the top half of the eighth thanks to RBI singles from Lewis and Howard. Following the theme of the opening day contest however, the Cowboys equaled the score at 9-9 in the bottom of the eighth.
 
The Pack were unable to score in the ninth and reliever Charlie Williams shut down the Cowboys with three strikeouts in the bottom frame to take the game to extra innings. 
 
In the top of the 10th inning, the Pack bats woke up in a major way. The ThunderWolves showed patience to start things off with the first four batters of the inning either earning a walk or hit-by-pitch. 
 
After Jacob Pawela forced an error by the leftfielder, Hennings logged a three-RBI triple to blow open the inning. Following a sacrifice fly by Brady Prewitt, the bases were reloaded to set the scene for Trey Vasquez. Vasquez smacked grand slam over the leftfield wall and pushed across the ninth run of the inning.
 
Thanks to the offensive explosion in the 10th, the Pack clinched the first win of the 2022 season after Williams shut down the Cowboys with three more strikeouts. 
 
The opening day win by CSU Pueblo was also Bobby Applegate's first career win as a head coach. 
 
Applegate stated, "I'm really proud of our guys' efforts." The coach continued by saying, "We got a great start out of Zach Pratt, and Charlie Williams got some big outs late to give our offense a chance in the 10th. That was a resilient win for our club." 
 
Coach Applegate also addressed his first win. "Though I am excited about my journey as a head coach claiming my first win, I was more excited for the guys and what they had to go through to earn the victory. That win is a tribute to every head coach I have worked with in the last 25 years – they have provided me with so much knowledge and experience." Applegate concluded by saying, "I'm just proud to pass along that knowledge and experience to our players and the program."
 
Game 2 | CSU Pueblo 3 – No. 15 West Texas A&M 10
 
The second game had a tougher offensive match-up for CSU Pueblo. Despite a Hennings double to start off the game, West Texas retired the next two Pack batters and shut down the inning. The Buffs then broke the 0-0 stalemate in the second inning off a double.
 
West Texas A&M then capitalized on some opportunities in the third inning and crossed three more runs to take an early 4-0 lead.
 
The Pack were able to get on the board in the top of the fourth. Vasquez reached base and then was hit home thanks to a deep homer from Pawela to right center. Pawela's home run cut the deficit to 4-2 but only for a short while. The Buffs pushed two more runs across and claimed a 6-2 lead after four innings.
 
Prewitt launched a solo home run in the top of the fifth to inch closer to the Buffs lead. Unfortunately for CSU Pueblo, West Texas A&M's offense woke back up in the sixth. The hosts crossed three more runs in the sixth and then another in the seventh.
 
The Pack ultimately fell 10-3 to No. 15 West Texas A&M. Applegate addressed the loss, "We faced a top-25 team in West Texas A&M." He continued by saying, "I thought we battled. We have a lot of new players and are trying the best to find the best fit and lineup as every team does in the pre-conference season."  He concluded by saying, "We are learning a lot about ourselves and I was proud of the guys competed regardless of the score." 
 
Pallatt led the Pack on the day with four hits and five RBIs while Vasquez and Hennings each tallied four more RBIs apiece. Lewis tallied four hits in the win over Highlands to join Pallatt as the leading Pack hitter.

CSU Pueblo will march onto its next match-up as the team comes back home for its first contest at Rawlings Field in 2022. The Pack face Minot State at 2 p.m. at Rawlings Field.