PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo baseball dropped both ends of its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference doubleheader here Friday at Rawlings Field to 19th-ranked Colorado Mesa.

In Friday's opener, the Pack led 3-0 after five innings, before the Mavericks rallied to tie game the in sixth and would ultimately prevail in 4-3 in eight innings, before the Mavericks recorded 13 hits and used three Pack errors to its advantage in posting a 13-4 win in the nightcap.

With the two setbacks, the ThunderWolves record falls to 12-22 overall and 9-10 in the RMAC, while Mesa improves to 26-8 overall and 17-2 in the RMAC.

The two teams will conclude the four-game series with a nine inning single game on Saturday, April 8 beginning at 12 p.m.

GAME 1 | Colorado Mesa 4, CSU Pueblo 3 (8 innings)
In Friday's opener, the Pack outhit the Mavs, 9-7 and got a strong starting pitching performance from junior Zach Pratt (Belton, Mo./Metropolitan CC), but the Mesa took advantage of the sun in the eighth inning as senior centerfielder Noah Hennings (Draper, Utah/Southern Idaho) lost a fly ball in the sun that dropped in for a double by Ethan Ezor that allowed the go-ahead and ultimately game winning run to score.

Pratt, who earned a no-decision, tossed six innings and allowed four hits and three unearned runs, while walking four and striking out four.

Neither team was able to muster much offense in the first four-plus innings until the Pack came to bat in the bottom of the fifth. In the inning, junior catcher Brady Prewitt (Raytown, Mo./Iowa Western CC) drew a two-out walk from Kannon Handy, who started on the mound for Mesa. The next Pack hitters, junior designated hitter Christian Casteneda (El Paso, Texas/Otero JC) and sophomore third baseman Kysen Howard (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) each reached on singles and on Howard's single, Prewitt scored to give the Pack a 1-0 lead. Following Howard's single, sophomore rightfielder Elijah Borjas (Denver, Colo./Lakewood) delivered a two-out, 2-run single to center to help push the Pack lead to 3-0.

The Mavs, though, came right back in the top of the sixth and used two hits and a Pack error to plate three unearned runs to tie the game at 3-3. The big hit in the inning was a 3-run homer by Conrad Villafuerte. Villafuerte's homer came with two outs in the inning that began when Harrison Rodgers reached on a fielding error by senior first baseman Reggie Williams (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County).

The teams wouldn't score any more runs in regulation, so they moved to the eighth inning and in the top of the eighth with Julian Boyd on second thanks to a single and stolen base, Ezor hit a fly ball to center that was lost in the sun and dropped in for a double to plate Boyd and give the Mavs a 4-3 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, Mesa closer Anthony Durbano, who earned his fifth save of the season, retired the Pack in order to end the game.

Howard, Borjas, redshirt senior shortstop Trey Vasquez (Greeley, Colo./Dodge County CC) and senior leftfielder Zac Hanenberg (Cañon City, Colo./ Cañon City) each had two hits in the loss.

Williams, who entered the game with a 74 game reached base streak dating back to last season, had that streak snapped as he failed to reach base in his four at-bats, including striking out three times. Williams had been on base in all of the Pack's previous 32 games this season.

Handy tossed 5.1 innings and allowed eight and three runs, while walking three and fanning 10. Cooper Vasquez (1-0) earned the win as he threw 1.2 innings and allowed just one hit and struck out two of the six batters he faced.

Junior Dylan Weaver (Fruita, Colo./Highland CC) took the loss (2-3) for the Pack as he tossed two innings and allowed three hits and one run, while striking out two and walking none.

Rob Sharrar had two of his team's seven hits in the opener.

The Pack left nine runners on base in the game, while Mesa stranded six.

GAME 2 | Colorado Mesa 13, CSU Pueblo 4 (7 innings)
In the nightcap, Mesa scored two runs in each of the first three innings and then tallied three runs each in the fifth and sixth innings and held the Pack offense to just six hits, including allowing three triples.

The Mavs also scored three unearned runs thanks to three errors by the Pack, all of which were committed by Vasquez at shortstop.

Howard had two of the Pack's six hits in the nightcap.

Mesa opened the game by scoring two runs in the top of the first on two hits and then added two more runs in the second on two hits and an error to take a 4-0 lead in the game.

The Pack would get one of those runs back in the bottom of the second thanks to an RBI triple by Vasquez, which plated Howard, who had reached on a one-out single earlier in the inning.
Mesa pushed its lead to 6-1 in the top of the third thanks to one hit and two Pack errors.

The Pack, though, would respond in the bottom of the third against Mesa starting hurler Liam Hohenstein. In the inning, the Pack recorded four hits and scored three runs to pull within 6-4. The big hit in the inning was 2-run triple off the bat of Howard. One of the runs that scored on Howard's triple came from Williams, who began a new on-base and hit streak as he recorded a single in the inning.

Mesa pushed its lead to 7-4 in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Stevenson Reynolds.

The Mavs would add some insurance runs in both the fifth and sixth innings as they scored three runs in the fifth on two hits, a two-run triple by Sharrar and an RBI double by Declan Wiesner.

Mesa used three hits to plate three more runs in the top of the sixth, with two of the runs scoring on a 2-run double by Boyd.

Redshirt junior Edwing Corrales (Delicias, Mexico/Otero JC) made his first start of the season in the night for the Pack as he tossed two innings and allowed four hits and four runs, while walking four and striking out three. Corrales (0-2) took the loss for the Pack.

The Pack used five pitchers in the game and those five pitchers combined to walk eight Maverick hitters and record nine strikeouts.

Hohenstein (4-0) earned the win for the Mavs as he tossed four innings and allowed six hits and four runs, while walking one and striking out four.

Villafuerte, Sharrar and Reynolds each had three hits to pace Mesa's 13-hit attack in the nightcap. Boyd scored three runs and stole two bases in the win.

Mesa left 11 runners on base, while the Pack stranded four base runners in the nightcap.