PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo Baseball sealed its spot in the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament here Friday afternoon as the ThunderWolves swept a doubleheader against Regis University at Rawlings Field.
 
The Pack opened Friday's doubleheader with a 9-8 walk-off win in the bottom of the seventh inning on a double by freshman leftfielder Jeremiah Sanchez (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo West) and then held off a seventh inning rally by the Rangers to post an 11-9 win in the nightcap.
 
With the two wins, CSU Pueblo improves to 20-29 overall and 16-15 in the RMAC, while Regis falls to 28-21 overall and 19-13 in the league. The win also helped the Pack earn a spot in next week's RMAC Tournament and also moved the Pack into fourth place in the league standings.
 
The two teams will conclude the four-game weekend series with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, May 6 to celebrate Senior Day. The Pack will honor its eight seniors in a pregame ceremony and this year's eight seniors are utility player Zac Hanenberg (Cañon City, Colo./ Cañon City), centerfielder Noah Hennings (Draper, Utah/Southern Idaho), pitcher Cole Martin (Ridgecrest, Calif./Cerro Coso CC), pitcher Nick Parisi (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo South), pitcher Ruben Portillo (Thornton, Colo./Eastern Arizona CC), shortstop Trey Vasquez (Greeley, Colo./Dodge City CC), pitcher Charlie Williams (Bucyrus, Kan./Metropolitan CC) and first baseman Reggie Williams (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County).
 
GAME 1 | CSU Pueblo 9, Regis 8
In Friday's opener, the Pack outhit the Rangers, 11-7, including recording five extra-base hits. The Pack also scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh after trailing 8-6 heading in the bottom of the seventh inning.
 
Williams paced the Pack offense as he was 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored, while Vasquez added two hits on four at-bats and had 4 RBI and freshman catcher Cody Macias (San Diego, Calif./Granite Hills) also had two hits with two runs scored and 2 RBI.
 
Regis got on the scoreboard in the top of the first thanks to a triple by Matt Marlow and a wild pitch by junior pitcher Nick Perry (Denton, Texas/Richland JC), who started on the mound for the Pack.
 
The Pack, though, would plate three runs on two hits in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead. Williams led off the inning with a double, moved to third on groundout by sophomore third baseman Kysen Howard (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) and after sophomore rightfielder Elijah Borjas (Denver, Colo./Lakewood) walked to put two runners on base, Williams would score the first Pack run on a wild pitch by Logan Deskin. Junior second baseman Brady Prewitt (Raytown, Mo./Iowa Western CC) would then also draw walk and Sanchez then followed with a 2-run single up the middle.
 
CSU Pueblo pushed its lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the second thanks to a solo home run by Macias.
 
Regis pulled within 4-2 in the top of the third thanks to scoring a run on a walk, a fielder's choice, an error on a failed pickoff attempt and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Maxim Fullerton.
 
The Pack pushed its lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth on back-to-back RBI doubles by Macias and Williams.
 
The Rangers pulled within 6-5 in the top of the fifth inning thanks to a 2-run double by Marlow and sacrifice fly by Joey Cicini.
 
Regis would retake the lead on the top of the sixth as they plated two runs on three hits to push in front 7-6. The big hit in the inning was a 2-run single to right by Fullerton off redshirt freshman hurler Caden English (Broomfield, Colo./Broomfield), who replaced Perry in the fifth inning.
 
The Rangers added another run in the top of the seventh without the benefit of a hit. In the inning, Cicini led off with a walk, moved to third on back-to-back wild pitches by Portillo and after CJ Difiglia walked, Austin Vaught brought home a run on his bunt down the first base line. Following Vaught's bunt, Charlie Williams replaced Portillo and struck out Adam Paniagua to end the inning.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, the Rangers brought in their closer, Ethan Sloan, and the first batter he faced, Williams, reached on a single to right and then Howard was hit by a pitch to put two runners on base with no outs. Both runners would advance a base thanks to a sacrifice bunt by Borjas and after Prewitt struck out for the first out of the inning, Sanchez would deliver a 2-run single to center to tie the game at 8-all. Sanchez then followed with his walk-off double to the wall in left that allowed Sanchez to score the game winning run.
 
Regis finished with seven hits in the game as Marlow went 2-for-4 with a run scored and 2 RBI, while Fullerton had a hit and 3 RBI.
 
Perry pitched four-plus innings as he allowed three hits and five runs (four earned runs), while walking five and striking out five. Charlie Williams (1-1) picked up the win as he retired the only hitter he faced.
 
Sloan (5-4) took the loss for the Rangers as he tossed two-thirds of an inning and allowed three hits and three runs, while striking out one and walking none.
 
For the game, Regis turned three double plays and stranded six runners on base, while the Pack left three runners on base.
 
GAME 2 | CSU Pueblo 11, Regis 9
In the nightcap, the Pack offense recorded 13 hits and scored 11 runs, including tallying six runs in the second inning and then held a seventh inning rally by the Rangers as they scored six runs and had the tying run on base when junior Dylan Weaver (Fruita, Colo./Highland CC) struck out Jack Moulin for the second out and ended the game by forcing pinch hitter Cam Blossom to ground out to sophomore second baseman Colton Miller (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa) to end the game.
 
The top three hitters in the Pack order (Williams, Vasquez and Borjas) combined to go 7-for-11 at the plate with seven runs scored and nine RBI. Vasquez went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and 3 RBI, while Williams was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and 2 RBI and Borjas was 2-for-4 with a run scored and 4 RBI.
 
In the nightcap, the Pack had nine extra base hits as they recorded six doubles and three home runs.
 
CSU Pueblo got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI double to right center by junior leftfielder Christian Casteneda (El Paso, Texas/Otero JC) off of Regis starting hurler Ryan Garcia.
 
The Rangers tied the game in the top of the second thanks to a triple by Cicini and a double by Paniagua off sophomore hurler Travis Farrell (Las Vegas, Nev./Otero JC), who made his fifth start of the season in the nightcap.
 
In the bottom of the second, the Pack sent 10 hitters to the plate and scored six runs on five hits to take a 7-1 lead in the game. The scoring started with an RBI double by Macias and then Williams followed with an RBI single and two batters later, Borjas drilled a 2-0 pitch by Garcia over the wall in left field for a grand slam to make the score 7-1 in favor of the Pack. The homer by Borjas was his sixth of the season, which is tied for second-most on the team.
 
Regis used a one-out solo home run over the fence in left by Colten Chase to cut the Pack's lead to 7-2.
 
The Pack would extend its lead to 8-2 in the bottom of the fourth on a solo homer by Vasquez to open the frame.
 
In the fifth inning, the Pack scored three runs on four hits to push its lead to 11-2. The scoring started on an RBI double by Williams and Vasquez brought home two runs on his second home run of the game.
 
Regis added a third run in the top of the sixth thanks to an RBI double to left center by Marlow off Farrell.
 
The Rangers, though, made things interesting in the top of the seventh as they sent 11 hitters to the plate and used three hits and scored six runs and had the tying run on base when Weaver ended the game on Blossom's ground out. The Pack used three pitchers in the inning as the Pack walked four Regis hitters in the inning and had a wild pitch. Two of the runs scored on a 2-run double by Nolan Johnson and Chase added a two-run single.
 
Regis finished with 10 hits in the nightcap as Marlow and Chase had two hits and Chase added three RBI in the loss.
 
Farrell pitched a season-high five-plus innings and earned the win (2-2) as he allowed seven hits and three runs, while walking one and striking out three. Weaver would pick up his first save of the year as he tossed two-thirds of an inning and allowed one hit and no runs, while walking one and striking out one.
 
The Pack turned a double play and left five runners on base. Regis also left five runners on base.