PUEBLO, Colo. (Feb. 8, 2022) - The Colorado State University Pueblo baseball team (1-2) fell 10-4 to Minot State (3-1) in the first home game of the 2022 season. 
 
The ThunderWolves fell behind early after the Beavers strung together a three-hit inning and pushed three runs across in the opening frame. The ThunderWolves were unable to find an answer and trailed 3-0 early on.
 
Through three innings, the Pack trailed 3-0 and had not logged a hit. The Beavers added to their  tally with a home run in the fourth inning. 
 
The ThunderWolves were able to find an answer to the strong Minot State pitching. Noah Hennings led the off the bottom frame with a double off the wall and was quickly moved over to third during the next at-bat. Brady Prewitt soon connected during his at-bat and sent Hennings home with ease to put CSU Pueblo on the board.
 
Despite the quick answer by the Pack, Minot State tacked on four more runs in the top of the fifth inning to put the ThunderWolves behind 8-1.
 
The bottom of the sixth saw another run put on the board by the Pack after Trey Vasquez got aboard via a base-hit and a throwing error allowed Reggie Williams to waltz home. 
 
Following the theme for the game, Minot answered with two more runs of their own to gain a 10-2 lead after seven innings. The Pack had two hits in the bottom frame by way of Tyson Pallatt and Hennings. 
 
CSU Pueblo added another run to its tally in the bottom half of the eighth inning after Kolton Miller hit a sacrifice fly to leftfield. Miller's sacrifice scored the tagged-up Zac Hanenberg from third.
 
After Ruben Portillo shut down the top half of the ninth inning, the Pack were looking for a large run-production. Jacob Federico led off the bottom of the ninth inning and got to third with two outs. Ty Lewis stepped up to the plate and knocked Federico in to claim an RBI single with two outs in the ninth.
 
Despite the late production by the Pack, CSU Pueblo ultimately fell to Minot State 10-4 in its third game of the season.
 
The Pack were able to muster up nine hits on the afternoon and force five Minot State errors. The nine hits were gathered by six Pack batters and consisted of two doubles by Hennings and RBIs from Miller, Prewitt and Lewis.
 
Head Coach Bobby Applegate addressed the loss and spoke on what he saw. "We matched up hits and we played hard and ran the bases hard." He continued by saying, "We just got to find those guys who are going to make those positive impacts when they can." Finally, Applegate finished by saying "We are going to pick the guys, keep playing the hot hand and keep giving them the ball and giving them the opportunity to swing the bat."
 
The Pack are back on the road this upcoming weekend for a four-game series at Emporia State. CSU Pueblo starts off the four-game series on Friday at 2 p.m. in Emporia, Kan.