EMPORIA, Kan. – The Colorado State University Pueblo baseball team split Saturday's double-header on the road at Emporia State, winning the first game and dropping the second.
With the 1-1 Saturday outing the Pack improve to 4-1 overall on the season, while Emporia State falls to 6-3 on the season. CSU Pueblo remains with the best record in the RMAC in non-conference play.
GAME ONE
The Pack put their foot on the gas in the first inning and never looked back. CSU Pueblo had two hitters with multiple hits as junior Designated Hitter
Wyatt Reginato (Cottonwood, Calif./Folsom Lake) went 2-for-4 in the game, while junior left fielder
Christian Casteneda (El Paso, Texas/Otero JC) drove in five runs on a 2-for-4 afternoon.
Senior pitcher
Tyler Curtis (Las Vegas, Nev./Southern Idaho) pitched a gem, allowing just one run in the seven-inning game, picking up his second win of the season.
The Pack got started early in the first as Casteneda singled in two runs in the fist after junior center fielder
Kade Snodgrass (Derby, Kan./Neosho County CC) walked and Reginato singled, and the Pack took a 2-0 lead after one half inning.
Emporia State answered in the bottom half of the first inning when TJ Racherbaumer hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom half, but that is as much as Emporia State would do in the ball game.
Emporia State kept it a close game at 2-1 until CSU Pueblo broke the game wide open in the sixth and seventh innings. In the top of the sixth inning, being just a one run game, junior second baseman Joesph Qunitana (Golden, Colo./Erskine College) doubled to deep left center in the top of the sixth, driving in junior first baseman
Brad Stone (Las Vegas, Nev./Southern Nevada) to give the Pack a 3-1 lead.
In the top of the seventh inning the Pack blew the game wide open. Snodgrass was hit by a pitch with two outs and Reginato singled to right. Casteneda came up and drilled a three-run home run to left field to put the Pack up 6-1.
With the big lead going into the bottom of the seventh, Curtis' pitching services were done as
Bobby Applegate called on senior
Nick Perry (Denton, Texas/Richland JC) to close out the game. Perry had a clean inning going through the order and ending the game with a 6-1 victory.
GAME TWO
Game two was not as friendly to the Pack as game one did, as Emporia State defeated CSU Pueblo 13-3 in a run rule of eight innings (9 inning scheduled game).
The Pack did strike first in the second game when junior outfielder
Elijah Borjas (Denver, Colo./Lakewood) singled in Snodgrass in the top of the first inning.
Junior pitcher
Cameron Saso (McKinleyville, Calif./Folsom Lake) did not have his best outing as he surrendered seven runs in two-thirds innings pitched in the bottom of the first inning.
The Pack were able to score again in the top of the third inning when Borjas drove in another run, doubling to deep center, scoring Casteneda. Emporia State tacked on another run in the bottom half of the third inning when CSU Pueblo committed a throwing error.
Emporia State tacked on more runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth inning. The ThunderWolves scored again in the seventh inning when Borjas doubled again to deep center, scoring Stone to cut the Emporia State led to 11-3.
Emporia State scored two more times in the bottom of the eighth inning to extend their lead to 13-3 and closed out the game with that exact score.
UP NEXT FOR THE PACK
CSU Pueblo returns to action tomorrow at 11 A.M. MST as they continue their series with Emporia State. The two teams will play double headers once again with game one being seven innings and game two being the full nine innings. Fans can watch the game on the MIAA Network.
