GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo Baseball rallied from a 2-1 deficit here Thursday afternoon as the fifth-seeded ThunderWolves outscored sixth-seeded Colorado Christian 11-0 over the final four innings en route to posting a 12-2 elimination round win on the second day of the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament at The Diamond.

With the win, the Pack remains alive in the double elimination tournament as they will next be in action on Friday, May 12 with another elimination round game at 3 p.m. against either the loser of Thursday's winner's bracket match-up between No. 2 seeded MSU Denver and No. 3 seeded Regis or No. 1 seeded Colorado Mesa, should they lose to No. 4 seeded Colorado Mines in Thursday's second game.

With Thursday's victory, the Pack improve to 22-30 overall on the season, while CCU concludes the season with an 18-32-1 record.

Thursday's win was keyed by an offense that collected 13 hits and scored 11 runs over the final four innings of the game and also got 4.2 shutout innings out of the bullpen from sophomore hurler Travis Farrell (Las Vegas, Nev./Otero JC), who picked up his third win of the season.

For the game, the Pack offense recorded 18 hits and took advantage of three CCU errors to score three unearned runs and record a total of 12 runs. In two RMAC Tournament games, the Pack have scored 27 runs and recorded 38 hits and they had 20 hits and scored 15 runs in its 16-15 first round loss Wednesday to MSU Denver.

Sophomore third baseman Kysen Howard (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) was the big offensive star for the Pack in Thursday's game as he was 4-for-6 at the plate with two runs scored and 4 RBI. In addition to Howard, senior first baseman Reggie Williams (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County), redshirt senior shortstop Trey Vasquez (Greeley, Colo./Dodge City CC), sophomore rightfielder Elijah Borjas (Denver, Colo./Lakewood), junior leftfielder Christian Casteneda (El Paso, Texas/Otero JC0 and junior catcher Brady Prewitt (Raytown, Mo./Iowa Western CC) each had two hits in the win. In addition, Williams and freshman pinch hitter Ty Thurman (Buckeye, Ariz./Liberty) each had 2 RBI for the Pack.

The game early on was a pitcher's duel between Pack junior Nick Perry (Denton, Texas/Richland JC) and CCU's Harrison Nation as the two hurlers had combined to allow just three runs and 10 hits through the first five innings of play.

CSU Pueblo had a scoring opportunity in the top of the second against Nation as he loaded the bases with two outs thanks to single by Howard, a walk issued to senior centerfielder Noah Hennings (Draper, Utah/Southern Idaho) and a hit by pitch issued to redshirt junior second baseman Cole Knightley (Solvang, Calif./Santa Ynez), but Nation would get out of the jam by forcing Williams to ground out to short to end the inning and leave the bases full.

In the bottom of the second, CCU took a 1-0 lead thanks to a lead-off home run by Jordan Medina on the first pitch of the inning from Perry. The homer was the 10th of the season for Medina.

The Pack would put two more runners on base in the third thanks to single by Borjas and a walk issued to junior designated hitter Edmund King (Imperial Beach, Calif./Southwestern), but Nation would leave both runners stranded as Prewitt ended the inning on a groundout to third.

CSU Pueblo would finally dent the scoreboard in the top of the fifth on an RBI single to right center off the bat of Casteneda. Casteneda's single scored Vasquez from third with an unearned run. Vasquez opened the inning with a double down the left field line and moved to third on a failed pickoff attempt at second by Nation.

The Cougars, though, would break the 1-all tie in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Caden Walton. Walton's single scored Aaron Morgan, who led off the inning with a single and then proceeded to steal two straight bases before Walton's single to right center. The Cougars would then put another runner on base and following a bunt by Eli Ludwig, Farrell would replace Perry on the mound and retire the next Cougars to order to keep the score 2-1 in CCU's favor.

Perry tossed 4.1 innings and allowed five hits and two runs, while striking out five and walking one. It marked the ninth time this season that Perry had recorded at least five strikeouts in a game.

In the sixth, the Pack retook the lead at 3-2 thanks to two hits and CCU error that led to one of those runs being unearned. The other run came home an RBI single by Williams off of CCU reliever Saxton Sorensen.

Nation (0-5) tossed five-plus innings and took the loss for the Cougars as he allowed seven hits and three runs (one earned run), while walking three and fanning three.

With Nation out of the game, the Pack offense began to take advantage of the Cougars' bullpen as they used four hits and scored four runs off Sorensen in the seventh to push its lead to 7-2. Thurman got the scoring started with his pinch-hit 2-run single up the middle and then both Williams and Vasquez followed with back-to-back RBI singles.

The Cougars bullpen tossed four-plus innings and allowed 11 hits and nine runs (eight earned), while walking four and fanning just one.

In the eighth inning, the Pack pushed across three more runs on three hits and a Cougars error to push its lead to 10-2. All those runs in the inning came off of JC Watne, the third of three CCU pitchers used in the contest. Howard started the scoring on his 2-run double to left center and sophomore second baseman Kolton Miller (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa) would bring home the other run on a bunt play.

The Pack added two more insurance runs in the ninth thanks to a 2-run single by Howard to give the Pack a 12-2 lead.

Farrell would put two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth thanks to back-to-back one-out singles by Frankie Shearn and Ludwig, but the 6-foot-7 southpaw would retire the next two Cougars on ground outs to end the game and improve his record to 3-2 on the season.

Farrell tossed 4.2 innings and allowed five hits and no runs, while walking one and fanning four.

CCU finished with 10 hits in the game as Ludwig, Shearn and Sawyer Shepherd each had two hits in the season ending loss.

The teams combined to leave 26 runners on base as CSU Pueblo stranded 16 and CCU left 10 on base.  CCU also committed three errors, including two by Nation. The Pack had one error on the day.