PUEBLO, Colo. - Colorado State University Pueblo baseball's seventh inning rally fell just short here Friday afternoon as the ThunderWolves fell 10-7 in the opener of its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference doubleheader against MSU Denver at Rawlings Field.
The setback was the fifth consecutive for the Pack as they dropped its record 17-13 overall and 6-8 in the RMAC, while MSU Denver moved to .500 on the season at 16-16 and 7-7 in the RMAC. The two teams will conclude the day with another doubleheader that began 45 minutes after the first game completed.
The Pack, who trailed 10-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, scored five runs in the inning and had the tying run in the on-deck circle when junior shortstop
Rob Mansour (La Verne, Calif./Cuesta College) grounded to second to end the game. The rally in the inning was keyed by a 3-run homer off the bat of junior second baseman
Brad Stone (Las Vegas, Nev./Southern Nevada) to pull the Pack within 10-7.
For the game, the Pack finished with nine hits, including two hits each from freshman centerfielder
Logan Kelly (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Capistrano Valley Christian) and junior first baseman
Kysen Howard (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest).
MSU Denver got on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning on a one-out triple by Jesse Velders and an sacrfice fly off the bat of Jake Williams to take a 1-0 lead.
The Pack came right back in the bottom of the first and tied the game thanks to a lead-off triple by
Logan Kelly and an RBI double by sophomore centerfielder
Jeremiah Sanchez (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo West) off MSU Denver starter Brad Helton.
MSU Denver would add four runs in the top of second thanks to five hits and an error by junior hurler
Travis Farrell (Las Vegas, Nev./Otero JC) on a failed pickoff attempt. The big hit in the inning was 2-run homer by Andrew Biddle to give the Roadrunners a 5-1 lead.
The Roadrunners added another run to its tally in the top of the third on an RBI triple by Tyler Tobey to give MSU Denver a 6-1 lead.
MSU Denver used four singles and an error by the ThunderWolves to plate two runs in the fifth inning to push its lead to 8-1.
Howard led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer over the wall in right center to give the Pack its second run of the game. The homer by Howard was his third homer of the year.
Biddle gave the Roadrunners a 9-2 lead in the top of the sixth on his solo homer over the wall in right off sophomore reliever
Jake Olguin-Pacheco (Denver, Colo./Horizon). The homer was the second of the game for Biddle.
Cal Walsh gave the Roadrunners a 10-2 lead in the top of the seventh on a 2-out homer over the right field wall. The homer was the third of the game and eighth of series for the Roadrunners.
In the bottom of the seventh, Sanchez was hit by a pitch with one out and scored one batter later on a triple Howard down the right field line. Howard would score on a wild pitch by Roadrunners reliever Marcos Palacios to pull the Pack within 10-4. Following the wild pitch, junior rightfielder
Elijah Borjas (Denver, Colo./Lakewood) reached on a single and then senior leftfielder
Christian Castaneda (El Paso, Texas/Otero JC) walked to put two runners on base before Stone drilled a 1-0 pitch from Gabe Austin over the wall in right to cut MSU Denver's lead to 10-7.
MSU Denver finished with 14 hits in the game as Tobey was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, while Biddle, Velders, Walsh and Cam Yuran each added two hits in the win.
Farrell (3-2) earned the loss on the mound for the Pack as he tossed 4.1 innings and allowed 11 hits and eight runs, while striking out four and walking none. Olguin-Pacheco pitched the final 2.2 innings and allowed three hits and two runs with two strikeouts and no walks.
Helton (3-3) picked up the win as the went six innings and allowed five hits and two runs, while walking four and striking out eight.
The Pack committed two errors in the game, left eight runners on base and stole two bases. MSU Denver had an error and stranded three runners.
