EMPORIA, Kan. – The Colorado State University Pueblo baseball team split Sunday's double-header on the road at Emporia State, winning the first game and dropping the second.

With the 1-1 Sunday outing the Pack improve to 5-2 overall on the season, while Emporia State falls to 7-4 on the season. CSU Pueblo remains with the best record in the RMAC in non-conference play.

GAME ONE
The Pack dominated game one winning 9-2 in seven innings. The Pack accumulated 11 hits in the game, led by junior center fielder Kade Snodgrass (Derby, Kan./Neosho County CC) who drove in four RBI's on a 2-for-5 afternoon. Junior shortstop Rob Mansour (LaVerne, Calif./Cuesta College) was the other hitter who had a multi-hit game as he went 2-for-3 on the game.

Redshirt senior pitcher Edwing Corrales (Delicias, Mexico/Otero JC) pitched a masterpiece as he went the distance, just allowing five hits, two runs, and had six strikeouts in seven innings of work.

While the Pack were able to drop nine runs on Emporia State, CSU Pueblo did not score until the third inning when Snodgrass homered to deep center, driving in two runs to give the Pack an early 2-0 lead.

Emporia State got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning when Patryk Hernandez singled in a run. Hernandez was able to drive in Emporia native Kadyn Williams after he led the inning off with a triple.

The Pack answered with a barrage of runs in the top of the fifth inning and broke the game wide open. Mansour led the inning off with a double and tagged up to third when Snodgrass flew out to right field. Junior Designated Hitter Wyatt Reginato (Cottonwood, Calif./Folsom Lake) and Junior Left Fielder Christian Casteneda (El Paso, Texas/Otero JC) had back-to-back walks and the Pack had the bases loaded with just one out.

With the bases loaded, junior First Baseman Brad Stone (Las Vegas, Nev./Southern Nevada) walked to make the score 3-1. Junior Outfielder Elijah Borjas (Denver, Colo./Lakewood) followed that up with a single to center which scored two runs to give the Pack a 5-1 lead. Junior Third Baseman Kysen Howard singled to left to advance the runners, loading the bases once again. Junior Second Baseman Joseph Quintana (Golden, Colo./Erskine College) then drove in another run on a sacrifice fly to give the Pack a 6-1 lead.

Emporia State answered quietly in the bottom of the fifth as Corrales gave up a solo home run to Logan Myers. That is the rest of the damage the Pack would surrender in the game.

The Pack however were not done scoring yet as they tacked on two more run in the top of the sixth inning to take an 8-2 lead. Snodgrass homered again down the left field line, driving in Mansour. Snodgrass continues his tear to the start of the season, leading the Pack with four homeruns and ten RBI's.

CSU Pueblo scored one more time when Quintana hit a solo homerun in the top of the seventh. That was Quintana's first homerun of the season.

GAME TWO
Just like the previous day, the Pack dominated game one, but were punched in the mouth in game two. Emporia State answered the call and won game two against CSU Pueblo 9-5 in the nine-inning affair.

CSU Pueblo did have three players in game two how had multi-hit games. Stone when 2-for-4 with two RBI's, Mansour when 2-for-3, and Borjas went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Junior pitcher Travis Farrell (Las Vegas, Nev./Otero JC) took the loss for the Pack as he went one and two third's innings, allowing five runs, five hits, and two walks.

Emporia State scored twice in the bottom of the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead, but the Pack answered the call in the top of the second inning when junior catcher Brady Ingalls (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa) doubled in Borjas and Howard to make the score 2-2.

Emporia State threw a haymaker in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs on two doubles into the gap. Sophomore pitcher Jake Olguin-Pacheco (Denver, Colo./Horizon) replaced Farrell in the second inning as the Pack fell behind 5-2.

Once again, the Pack answered the call as they scored three runs in the top of the third to tie the game 5-5. Stone hit a two-run homerun to drive in Casteneda after he walked, along with himself. Borjas was not going to let Stone have all the fun, as he turned around and hit a solo shot himself, giving the Pack back-to-back homeruns and tying the game.

Emporia State landed the final knockout punch in the bottom of the fifth inning as they scored the decisive four runs that gave them the win 9-5. The catcher Austin Hamm hit a two-run homer to start the inning and then the Pack had defensive troubles as they allowed another run to score on a throwing error and a wild pitch, giving Emporia State a 9-5 lead.

While the Pack did threaten in the last few innings, Bobby Applegate's squad was not able to send any more runs across the plate and the Pack dropped Game Two.

WORDS FROM THE SKIPPER
"We got a real solid complete game performance from Edwing (Corrales). Kade Snodgrass had a solid day in game one offensively" said Head Coach Bobby Applegate. "Game two we got down early and responded well tying the game up 5-5 and the end of three, but we had one inning that got away from us defensively and we were not able to string together timely hits the last four innings."

Applegate also noted "We have played good baseball for the most part, we just have to clean up a few hiccups here and there but I like the way our club is playing."

UP NEXT FOR THE PACK
The Pack continue their non-conference schedule this Tuesday in the I-25 rivalry with the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. The game will be at 2:00 at Mountain Lion Field in Colorado Springs and streamed on the RMAC Network. This will not be an RMAC game despite the two being conference opponents. CSU Pueblo defeated UCCS last Tuesday in Pueblo 11-7.