PUEBLO, Colo. - The Colorado State University Pueblo Baseball squad secured a series victory on Monday afternoon, defeating the Sioux Falls Cougars 12-7 at Rawlings Field.
CSU Pueblo took three out of four games in the series to improve their record to 9-7 overall. Sioux Falls is now 4-5 after the weekend series.
Cameron Saso picked up the win for the ThunderWolves on Monday, pitching two and two thirds shutout ball in relief. Taking the loss for the Cougars was Jake Pruchniak.
Cody Macias led the way for the Pack in the finale, going three for four on the day with five RBI's. The young catcher from San Diego was also stellar on the defensive end.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Kysen Howard got things going for the Pack in the bottom of the second inning, as the Gold Glove third baseman smoked a solo home run over the left field wall to put the ThunderWolves up 1-0.
The Cougars responded in the third inning with a Mitch Iliff RBI double down the left field line to tie the game at 1-1. Sioux Falls continued in the fourth with two more runs with a sac fly and an infield single.
The Pack responded in the bottom half of the fourth inning with five runs to retake the lead 6-3.
Elijah Borjas drove in the first run of the fourth with an RBI bunt single. Macias then delivered with a two RBI single through the right side to put the Pack up 4-3.
Logan Kelly and Macias then scored on wild pitches to tack on two more runs in the inning.
Once again, Sioux Falls responded, putting up two more runs in the fifth inning to cut the lead down to 6-5 with two RBI singles.
CSU Pueblo threw another punch in the bottom half of the fifth inning with three more runs, fueled by a two-RBI triple from Macias down the right field line.
Kade Snodgrass then followed up Macias' big hit a sac fly to score Macias. CSU Pueblo led 9-5 after five innings.
Sioux Falls scored two more runs in the top of the sixth with a Dominic Vogel RBI bunt single and a Jaxon Haase RBI single up the middle. Saso came in the game and shut down the rally from the Cougards, taking a 9-7 lead into the bottom half of the sixth.
The Cougars got into trouble in the sixth, loading the bases with nobody out. Jace Coleman had to replace Zach Peta and try to clean up his mess, but walked Howard with the bases loaded to score a run. Coleman also walked Borjas to give the ThunderWolves another run, trailing 11-7 to the Pack. Coleman was able to get three big outs however after the two walks, only allowing the Pack to score twice in the inning.
The Pack were able to tack on one more run in the eighth with another RBI double from Macias, completing his big day.
Jack Novak was able to close out the game in the ninth inning, going 1-2-3 to secure the win.
