GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Colorado State University Pueblo saw its up-and-down 2023 season ended here Friday afternoon as the ffith-seeded ThunderWolves dropped a hard-fought 17-16 slugfest to No. 3 seeded Regis University in an elimination round game of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament at The Diamond.
 
With the setback, the Pack completed the RMAC Tournament with a 1-2 record and finishes the 2023 season with a 22-31 overall record, while Regis improved to 30-23 and will now face No. 2 seeded and 19th-ranked MSU Denver in a Friday evening elimination game with the winner meeting No. 1 seeded and top-ranked Colorado Mesa in Saturday's championship round. Colorado Mesa is the lone undefeated team left in the double-elimination event.  
 
In Friday's elimination round game against the Rangers, the Pack led 5-1 after two-and-a-half innings of play, but Regis rallied to score 15 of the next 17 runs to take a 16-7 lead heading into the seventh inning. In the seventh inning, the Pack offense exploded for nine runs thanks to a 3-run homer by freshman designated hitter Ty Thurman (Buckeye, Ariz./Liberty) and a grand slam from senior first baseman Reggie Williams (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County) to tie the game at 16-all. Regis, though, used a solo homer in eighth by Zach Daudet to take a 17-16 lead and then retired the Pack in order in the ninth to seal the victory and remain alive in the tournament.
 
The Pack offense finished the game with 17 hits, including six home runs and scored 16 runs and in three tournament games, the Pack scored 43 runs and recorded 55 hits, including hitting 10 home runs in the three games. Three of the six home runs in Friday's game were hit by junior leftfielder Christian Casteneda (El Paso, Texas/Otero JC). Casteneda went 5-for-5 at the plate with four runs scored and 6 RBI in the contest.
 
The three homers by Casteneda tied a single game school record that had been accomplished five times previously with the most recent occurring by both Matt Wismann and Jason Forbes at Colorado Christian on April 11, 2009. 
 
In addition to Casteneda's 5-for-5 day at the plate, Williams added three hits, scored two runs and had 4 RBI, while senior centerfielder Noah Hennings (Draper, Utah/Southern Idaho) had two hits, scored two runs and had 2 RBI.
 
Friday's game was a slugfest as the two teams combined for 33 runs and 34 hits, including combining for 10 home runs and a total of 15 extra base hits.
 
The Pack jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second thanks to a solo home run by Casteneda and an RBI groundout by Hennings.

Regis got one of those two runs back in the bottom of the second thanks to a 2-out, solo home run off the bat of Adam Paniagua to pull within 2-1. 

Williams led off the third with a single and advanced to second on an error on failed pickoff attempt by Regis pitcher Sean Cottrell and two batters later, Casteneda gave the Pack a 5-1 lead thanks to his 3-run homer over the fence in left.

The Rangers, though, rallied in the bottom of the third as they scored six runs on four hits to take a 7-5 lead in the game. Matt Marlow and CJ Difiglia each brought home runs on RBI singles off junior hurler Zach Pratt (Belton, Mo./Metropolitan CC) and then Colten Chase scored on a wild pitch by freshman pitcher Luke Ruby (Fort Collins, Colo./Resurrection Christian). Later in the inning, Levi Padilla brought home a run on a sacrifice bunt and then Paniagua gave the Rangers the lead on his 2-run homer to left field. The homer was the second of the game for Paniagua. 

Hennings brought the Pack with a run at 7-6 thanks to his lead-off homer to left to open the fourth inning.

Regis got that run back in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a double by Daudet, a single by Maxim Fullerton and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Marlow to give the Rangers an 8-6 lead and then added another run on an RBI single by Difiglia off sophomore reliever Owen Rudolphi (Eureka, Mo./Eureka), who was the third pitcher of the game for the Pack, to lead 9-6. 

Casteneda added his third home run of the game with one out in the fifth inning to cut Regis' lead to 9-7. The third homer of the game by Casteneda was his 13th of the season, which is tied for third-most in a single season in school history.

Regis pushed its lead to 10-7 in the bottom of the fifth thanks to an RBI single to center by Fullerton off sophomore hurler Jacob Petersheim (Broadway, Va./Broadway), who replaced Rudolphi on the mound to open the inning. 

In the bottom of the sixth, Regis put runners on first and second thanks to a walk and a hit batsmen and then used a RBI single by Paniagua off Petersheim to give the Rangers an 11-7 lead. Paniagua's single was his third hit of the game and fourth RBI of the day. Later in the inning, Daudet dripped a 1-1 pitch from graduate student Ruben Portillo (Thornton, Colo./Eastern Arizona CC) to left center for a 3-run double to give Regis a 14-7 lead and Fullerton then followed Daudet's double with a 2-run homer over the fence in right. The homer by Fulleton, which came off redshirt junior hurler Edwing Corrales (Delicias, Mexico/Otero JC), the fifth Pack pitcher of the game, gave the Rangers a 16-7 lead.

Trailing 16-7 entering the seventh inning, the Pack used nine hits to plate nine runs and tie the game at 16-all. In the inning, Casteneda got the scoring started on his RBI double to left center and then sophomore third baseman Kysen Howard (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) followed with an RBI single to left to pull with the Pack within 16-9. The next hitter, Ty Thurman, drilled the first pitch he saw from Cam Bushnell over the wall in left center for a 3-run home run to cut Regis' lead to 16-12. Following the homer, Michael May replaced Bushnell on the mound for the Rangers and he proceeded to load the bases thanks to a double by junior catcher Brady Prewitt (Baytown, Mo./Iowa Western CC), a walk to Hennings and a bunt single to sophomore second baseman Kolton Miller (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa). Following the bunt single to Miller, Regis replaced May with Logan Deskin and the first batter Deskin faced was Williams and on a 1-1 count, Williams drilled a pitch over the wall in right for a grand slam to tie the game at 16. The grand slam was the fifth of the season for the Pack.
 
Regis retook the lead in the bottom of the eighth on a solo home run by Daudet off Corrales. Daudet's homer gave the Rangers their final lead at 17-16. 

In the top of the ninth, Ethan Sloan came into the game for the Rangers and he proceeded to retire the Pack in order, including ending the game by forcing redshirt senior shortstop Trey Vasquez (Greeley, Colo./Dodge City CC) to ground out to first to help Sloan record his fourth save of the season.

Regis also had 17 hits in the game as Daudet was 5-for-5 with four runs scored and 4 RBI from the lead-off spot in the line-up. Along with Daudet, Difiglia, Fullerton and Paniagua each had three hits in the win.

Pratt was only able to pitch 2.1 innings in his final start of the season as he allowed four hits and four runs, while walking one and striking out two. Pratt finished the season with a team-leading 68 strikeouts in 66 innings of work.

Corrales (1-3) took the loss for the Pack as he pitched two innings and allowed two hits and two runs, while striking out one and walking none. Corrales was the sixth of seven pitchers used by the Pack in the game that lasted a little over three hours.

Deskin (1-1), who was the sixth of seven pitchers used by Regis, earned the win as he tossed two innings and allowed two hits and one run, while striking out three and walking none.

The Pack left four runners on base, while Regis stranded six and turned two double plays. The Rangers also had the lone error of the game.