GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo baseball opened Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play here Saturday afternoon with a 10-5 setback to Colorado Mesa at The Diamond.
With the setback, the ThunderWolves, who were playing their first game in two weeks, fell to 10-9 overall and 0-1 in the RMAC, while Colorado Mesa improved to 12-7 overall and 5-0 in the league. The two teams will continue the four-game series with a doubleheader on Sunday, March 16, at 1 p.m. and conclude the series with a single game on Monday, March 17, at noon.
The Pack offense, which entered the game averaging 10.3 hits and 9.0 runs per game, was held to seven hits and five runs and left seven runners on base. Meanwhile, Mesa finished the game with 16 hits and 10 runs and left nine runners on base. The Pack has allowed double-digit runs in just six of its 19 games.
Fifth-year senior third baseman
Kysen Howard (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) was 3-for-3 at the plate with a run scored and 4 RBI, while senior leftfielder
Wyatt Reginato (Cottonwood, Calif./Folsom Lake) was 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored. The other hits were recorded by fifth-year senior first baseman
Christian Castaneda (El Paso, Texas/Otero JC) as he extended his hitting streak to 19 consecutive games and senior shortstop
Rob Mansour (La Verne, Calif./Cuesta College).
CMU got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first as they used a walk, a stolen base, three singles and a double to plate three runs to take a 3-0 lead.
The Pack, however, cut the Mavs' lead to 3-2 in the top of the second with a 2-run homer to center field by Howard. This homer marked Howard's team-high, tying fifth of the season.
After allowing the three runs in the first, senior hurler
Travis Farrell (Las Vegas, Nev./Otero JC) retired seven straight batters before Ethan Ezor and Declan Wiesner led off the fourth inning with back-to-back doubles to give CMU a 4-2 lead. The Mavs added a third double in the inning by Kennedy Hara to push its lead to 5-2 and following a fourth double of the inning by Paul Schoenfeld, CMU pushed its lead to 7-2 on a 2-run single by Kolby Felix. Felix's single chased Farrell from the game. Redshirt junior
Jacob Petersheim (Broadway, Va./Broadway) replaced Farrell and prevented further damage as Felix was caught stealing and Joey Blank struck out to end the inning.
Farrell (4-1) struggled in Saturday's start as he pitched a season-low 3.1 innings and allowed a season-high nine hits and a season-high seven earned runs, while striking out three and walking one in his 75-pitch outing. He entered the game with an RMAC-leading 2.08 ERA. He pushed his season ERA to 3.74 with Saturday's outing.
Petersheim pitched 2.2 innings out of the bullpen and allowed five hits and two runs, while striking out five and walking none. On the day, the Pack pitchers recorded nine strikeouts and walked three as they used five in the contest.
The Pack would dent the scoreboard again in the sixth inning as they sent eight batters to the plate and scored three runs thanks to two hits and three walks to cut CMU's lead to 7-5. Howard began the scoring with his bases-loaded 2-run double to left off of CMU reliever Cayden Clark and after sophomore centerfielder
Logan Kelly (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Capistrano Valley Christian), sophomore
Jason Arriola (Riverside, Calif./Norco) hit a pinch hit sacrifice fly to score the Pack's third run of the inning.
Clark replaced CMU starter Gauge Lockhart in the sixth after he loaded the bases thanks to a lead-off single by Reginato and back-to-back walks issued to senior rightfielder
Elijah Borjas (Denver, Colo./Lakewood) and senior second baseman
Brad Stone (Las Vegas, Nev./College of Southern Nevada).
The Mavs pushed its lead to 8-5 in the bottom of the sixth on a one-out, solo home run to left center by Hara and added another run in the inning on an RBI single to right by Christos Stefanos to take a 9-5 lead.
CMU added another run in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI groundout by Blank off of freshman reliever
Danny Retzlaff (Corona, Calif./Centennial) to give the Mavericks a 10-5 lead. The Mavs would eventually load the bases in the inning, but senior
Kade Douglas (Lakewood, Colo./Hill College) got out of the jam by forcing Wiesner to foul out to end the inning.
CMU's offense was paced by three hits each from Stefanos and Stevenson Reynolds, while Schoenfeld, Ezor, Wiesner and Hara each had two hits.
Lockhart (4-0) earned the win on the mound for the Mavs as he tossed 5.1 innings and allowed four hits and five runs (five earned), while walking four and striking out five. The Mavs bullpen tossed 3.2 innings of scoreless relief as they allowed just three hits, while walking three and fanning four.
