PUEBLO, Colo. – Despite three home runs, including two from sophomore rightfielder Elijah Borjas (Denver, Colo./Lakewood), Colorado State University Pueblo baseball's defense committed a season-high tying four errors as the ThunderWolves fell 9-6 in its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series finale here  Saturday afternoon against 19th-ranked Colorado Mesa at Rawlings Field.

The four errors pushed the Pack's total to 10 in the four-game series against the nationally-ranked Mavericks and those 10 errors led to 11 unearned runs in the series.

With Saturday's setback, the Pack have now been swept in two straight RMAC series and are now 12-23 overall and 9-11 in the RMAC. The 9-11 mark in league play puts the Pack currently in fifth place in the league standings with three weeks remaining in the regular season.

In Saturday's series finale, the Pack recorded 11 hits as along with Borjas' two home runs, sophomore third baseman Kysen Howard (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) also hit a homer, which was a 2-run blast in the third that allowed the Pack to tie the game at 3-3.

Borjas finished the game with three hits, two runs scored and 3 RBI, while sophomore second baseman Kolton Miller (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa) added two hits from the No. 9 spot in the batting line-up.

Once again, the Pack got another quality start on the mound from junior Tyler Curtis (Las Vegas, Nev./Southern Idaho) as he pitched into the seventh inning and allowed 15 hits, but just six runs (three earned), while striking out six and walking none. Curtis has now pitched into the seventh inning in seven of his nine starts. In a team-leading 56.2 innings, Curtis, who took the loss in Saturday's finale to fall to 3-4 on the season, has recorded 39 strikeouts and has walked just seven, including recording no walks in four of his starts.

While the Pack had 11 hits, Mesa rapped out 21 hits, including eight extra base hits that included six doubles, a triple and a home run by Julian Boyd. Mesa, though, left 14 runners on base, while CSU Pueblo left six runners stranded.

For the series, the Pack were outhit, 56-33 and outscored 33-16 as the Mavs hit 14 doubles, three triples and three home runs and were walked 16 times and were 7-for-9 on stolen bases. The Pack had three doubles, two triples, three home runs and were walked eight times by Mesa's pitchers. 

The Pack got on the scoreboard first in Saturday's finale as Borjas drilled a 2-0 pitch from Cole Seward over the wall in center for his second home run of the season. Borjas' homer gave the Pack a 1-0 lead.

Mesa, though, came right back in the top of the third as they four hits and an error to score three runs to take a 3-1 lead. The big hit in the inning was a 2-run double by Harrison Rodgers.

The Pack would came right back in the bottom of the third and tie the game a 3-all following a 2-run blast over the wall in left by Howard. Howard's homer came two batters after Miller reached on a single that ricocheted off the pitcher's leg for a hit. The homer by Howard was his third of the season.

With the game tied, Mesa once again responded in the top of the fourth as they scored two runs, one of them scoring on a fielding error in left by senior Zac Hanenberg (Cañon City, Colo. Cañon City) and the second run score on an RBI single by Rob Sharrar off of Curtis to give the Mavs a 5-3 lead.

The Pack pulled within 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a single by Hanenberg to put him on third thanks to a two-base fielding error by Mesa first baseman Stevenson Reynolds and an RBI single by Miller off of Jared Ure, who was the second of six Mesa pitchers in the game.

Once again, Mesa pushed its lead back out to two runs at 6-4 in the top of the sixth thanks to two hits and two errors, including a second error in the game from redshirt senior shortstop Trey Vasquez (Greeley, Colo./Dodge City CC). The error by Vasquez was his sixth in the series and 14th of the season.

Pueblo would once again rally as they used four hits, including an RBI by Borjas to move within a run at 6-5.

The Mavs added another run in the eighth on Boyd's seventh home run of the season. Boyd's homer gave Mesa a 7-5 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Pack responded with another solo homer run by Borjas to cut Mesa's lead to 7-6.

The Mavs, though, would add two insurance runs in the ninth thanks to four hits off of junior reliever Dylan Weaver (Fruita, Colo./Highland CC), who was the third Pack pitcher of the game.

Jordan Ellison retired three of the four hitters he faced in the ninth to seal the win and earn his first save of the season. Ellison was the sixth pitcher of the game for the Mavs.

Sharrar led the way offensively for Mesa with a 4-for-5 day at the plate with 2 RBI, while Boyd, Rodgers and Paul Schoenfeld each had three hits in the win. In fact, all nine of Mesa's starting hitters recorded at least one hit in the game.

Ure (2-1) pitched two innings in relief of Seward to earn the win as he allowed two hit and one unearned run, while striking out one and walking none. For the game, both team's pitchers combined to walk just three batters on the day.

The Pack will step out of league play for a two-game midweek series this week as the Pack travel to Albuquerque, N.M., for two non-conference games on April 11-12 at NCAA Division I foe, University of New Mexico. The teams open the two-game set with a 6 p.m. MT on Tuesday, April 11, before playing another single game on Wednesday, April 12 starting at 2 p.m. The Pack will then return to RMAC play next weekend (April 14-16) as they play a four-game series in Lakewood, Colo., against Colorado Christian.