PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo Baseball will look to continue its hot play in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play as the ThunderWolves host New Mexico Highlands for a four-game RMAC series this weekend (March 17-19) at Rawlings Field.
The two teams will open the four-game series with a single game on Friday, March 17 at 3 p.m., before playing a doubleheader on Saturday, March 18 beginning at 12 p.m. and then concluding the weekend with another single game on Sunday, March 19 beginning at 12 p.m.
CSU Pueblo will look to continue the momentum from last weekend's 3-1 series win at UCCS in the league opener for both schools. The Pack opened the UCCS series with a 15-14 win, before capturing a 16-5 win in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader and then concluding the series with a 12-4 win on Sunday. The Mountain Lions earned a 12-4 in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader.
The two teams have met 86 times previously on the diamond in a series that began in 2007. The Pack hold a 46-40 all-time advantage in the series, but dropped three of four games at home to the Highlanders last season. Prior to those three losses, the Pack had won 14 of the previous 16 meetings in the series. CSU Pueblo did manage to win last year's series finale 9-7 behind two home runs and 5 RBI from junior catcher
Brady Prewitt (Raytown, Mo./Iowa Western CC) and strong bullpen work.
Following this weekend's four-game RMAC series with New Mexico Highlands, the Pack will play a non-conference game at UCCS on Tuesday, March 21, before returning next weekend (March 24-26) to host the Colorado School of Mines in a four-game RMAC series. The UCCS non-conference game was originally scheduled for Feb. 28.
ABOUT CSU PUEBLO
The Pack enter this weekend's action with New Mexico Highlands with an overall record of 5-13 and a 3-1 mark in the RMAC. The Pack have won four of their last six games overall with three of those wins coming last weekend at UCCS and the other win being an 11-4 win at Regis on March 4.
Coming into this weekend's play, the Pack are hitting .316 as a team (199-for-630) with 117 runs scored, 43 doubles, four triples and 10 home runs. In last weekend's UCCS series, the Pack scored 47 runs as they averaged 11.8 runs per game on 64 hits and tallied 14 doubles, two triples and five home runs, with junior designated hitter
Christian Casteneda (El Paso, Texas/Otero JC) hitting two of those five home runs.
Senior first baseman
Reggie Williams (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County) currently leads the Pack and is third in the RMAC in batting average at .464 (32-for-69) and is in the midst of 14-game hitting streak and an 18-game reached base streak. Williams leads the team in hits (32), runs scored (21), walks (13) and tied for the team lead in doubles (8) and is second in RBI with 19.
Williams is one of seven Pack players this season to score 10 or more runs and is one of five players with 10 or more hits. Williams also leads the RMAC and is seventh nationally in Division II with a .584 on-base percentage.
Casteneda and senior centerfielder
Noah Hennings (Draper, Utah/Southern Idaho) have been providing the best power production thus fat this season as Casteneda has hit two home runs and leads in slugging percentage at .577, while Hennings is second in slugging percentage at .574 as he has hit two home runs, seven doubles and one of the team's four triples.
Prewitt leads the team in RBI with 23 and is tied for the team lead in doubles with eight and is second in hits with 24 as he is hitting .354 on the season.
Six regulars in the Pack line-up are hitting over .300 on the season as along with Williams and Prewitt, Casteneda is hitting .385, while Hennings is hitting .353, freshman right fielder
Jeremiah Sanchez (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo West) is hitting .333 and sophomore third baseman
Kysen Howard (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) is hitting .323.
On the mound, the Pack have a team ERA of 8.78, which is the fifth-best in the RMAC. The Pack's pitchers have struck out 133 in 151.2 innings of work and opposing hitters a batting .340 on the season. The team's 1.80 strikeout-to-walk ratio is third-best in the RMAC, while their 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings is fourth-best in the RMAC.
The Pack's top two starters this season have been juniors
Tyler Curtis (Las Vegas, Nev./Southern Idaho) and
Zach Pratt (Belton, Mo./Metropolitan CC). Those two have combined to make five starts each and toss a total of 56.1 innings and Curtis has tossed a league-best two complete games. Curtis is 2-1 with a 4.22 ERA and in 32 innings of work, he has struck out 18 and walked just six, while Pratt is 0-1 with a 7.03 ERA and in 24.1 innings of work, he has struck out a team-leading 23 and walked 13.
The Pack's other two primary starters this season have been sophomore
Owen Rudolphi (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) and junior
Nick Perry (Denton, Texas/Richland JC). Rudolphi is 0-3 with a 15.63 ERA and Perry is 1-1 with a 5.68 ERA.
Leading the way for the Pack bullpen this season has been junior
Dylan Weaver (Fruita, Colo./Highland CC) and sophomore
Jacob Petersheim (Broadway, Va./Broadway) as each of them have made seven appearances each. Weaver is 2-2 with a 3.65 ERA, while Petersheim is 0-1 with two saves and 8.18 ERA. Weaver and Petersheim have combined to pitch 23.1 innings and record 21 strikeouts and walk nine.
One area the Pack have struggled with is leaving runners on base as they have stranded 169 runners in 18 games and are averaging nearly 10 runners left on base per game this season. The Pack defense has also committed 22 errors that have led to 19 unearned runs.
Leading the Pack this season is
Bobby Applegate, who is in his second season as the program's head coach. Applegate, who was the Colorado Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year in 1995 playing for at the time University of Southern Colorado, has compiled a 32-39 overall record at his alma mater and is 20-16 in RMAC games.
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
The Cowboys enter this weekend's series against CSU Pueblo sporting a 1-17 overall record as they have dropped 13 straight games since picking up a 5-3 win at home against Fort Hays State on Feb. 10. The Cowboys are coming off losses last weekend at home to Eastern New Mexico as they lost 10-1 and 15-8 to the Greyhounds.
Statistically, the Cowboys are hitting .185 as a team (88-for-476) with 51 runs scored, 10 doubles, four triples and eight home runs. The leading hitter for the Cowboys in terms of average this season has been senior Cobe Lehman as he is hitting .265 (13-for-49). Lehman leads the team in hits (13), doubles (4), RBI (8) and is second in home runs with two.
Senior Fabian Ferreira leads Highlands in home runs with three and also in slugging percentage at .472, while sophomore Taigo Soto has scored a team-leading 10 runs and has hit a team and RMAC-leading three triples and sophomore Chase Stewart is near the top of the league leaders in stolen bases with six as he is a perfect 6-for-6 on steals this season.
On the mound, Highlands has recorded a 12.70 team ERA and have struck out 88 and walked 76 batters in 123.1 innings of work.
The team's top starter this season has been junior left-hander Jadrian Martinez as he is 0-4 with a 7.84 ERA in five starts. In those five starts, he has tossed one complete game and in 20.2 innings of work, he has struck out 16 and walked just four. Another left-hander, sophomore Dominick Castillo has made six appearances and four starts and is 0-4 with a 9.28 ERA. He leads the team in innings pitched with 21.1 and has struck out 12 and walked 10.
Highlands' top arm out of the bullpen this season has been sophomore Hunter VanCurler as he has 10 appearances in relief and has an 0-0 record and a 7.23 ERA. In 18.2 innings of work, he has recorded 12 strikeouts and walked just three.
The Cowboys are led by Shannon Hunt, who is in his ninth season as the helm of the Highlands baseball program and has compiled a 122-232 overall record. Hunt, who is in 31st year of coaching baseball, has also coached at Edmonds CC, Butte College, Shasta College, El Paso CC and in the professional ranks with the Reno Silver Sox, was a scout for the San Francisco Giants from 1992-2004 and spent 2010-13 as the hitting coach with the Traverse City Beach Bums of the Frontier League. He was also the associate head coach at Highlands in both 2005 and 2014.
