COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Colorado State University Pueblo Baseball continued its late season hot play here Friday afternoon as they posted a 15-2 win over UCCS in the completion of Thursday's suspended Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game that began at UC Health Park, but was completed at Mountain Lion Park on the UCCS campus.
When Thursday's game was halted at UC Health Park, the Pack had the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the seventh inning and a 9-2 lead over the Mountain Lions.
With the victory, the Pack secures win No. 30 this season as they improve to 30-17 overall and 20-9 in the RMAC and extends it win streak to six straight games, while UCCS fell to 22-22 overall and 11-16 in the league. The two teams will continue the series with another nine inning game this afternoon that will begin about 1:30 p.m. and conclude the series with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 3 beginning at noon.
The 30 win season is the first for the Pack since 2014 when the ThunderWolves finished the season with a 41-16 overall. In addition, it is the 17th 30-win campaign for the Pack baseball program since 1993-94. The 20 RMAC wins this season are the most for the Pack in a season since going 21-15 in 2019.
When Thursday's suspended game resumed on Friday, fifth-year senior first baseman
Christian Castaneda (El Paso, Texas/Otero JC) was at the plate with the bases loaded. Castaneda would draw a walk from UCCS reliever Brett Woytek to give the Pack a 10-2 lead.
Before the weather halted Thursday's game, the Pack had scored five runs on three hits in the seventh inning to turn a 4-2 lead into a 9-2 advantage. In the seventh, the Pack got the scoring started on an RBI double down the left field line by sophomore center fielder
Logan Kelly (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Capistrano Valley Christian) and after senior third baseman
Kysen Howard (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) walked to load the bases, Colton Trudeau issued a bases loaded walk to senior shortstop
Rob Mansour (La Verne, Calif./Cuesta College) for the second run of the inning and then freshman designated hitter
Noah Williams (Carson, Calif./Redondo Union) greeted James Harbison, who was the third pitcher of the game for UCCS, with a two-run single to left to give the Pack an 8-2 lead and after junior second baseman
Devean Alvarez (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Chaffey College) walked to reload the bases, UCCS catcher Evan Steinberger was dinged for a passed ball that allowed Mansour to score fifth run of the inning and ninth of the game for the Pack. Following the passed ball, senior left fielder
Wyatt Reginato (Cottonwood, Calif./Folsom Lake) walked to once reload the bases and after the walk, the umpires decided to postpone the game due to rainy and wet field conditions.
The Pack's lead grew to 11-2 in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Howard and added four more runs in the ninth thanks to five hits, including a 2-run double by Mansour and RBI singles by Howard and junior pinch hitter
George Andrews (Overland Park, Kan./Coffeyville CC).
For the game, the Pack finished 16 hits, inclduing a 4-for-4 effort with two runs and 3 RBI from Howard, while Wiliams, Reginato, Kelly and senior right fielder
Elijah Borjas (Denver, Colo./Lakewood) each had two hits in the win. Nine of the 12 batters that recorded a plate appearance in the game had a hit for the Pack.
Kelly, Castaneda, Howard, Reginato and junior catcher
Cody Macias (San Diego, Calif./Granite Hills) each two runs in the win. In addition, Castaneda was on base twice to extend his reached base streak to 55 consecutive games dating to last season as he has been on base in all 47 games this season.
Senior
Travis Farrell (Las Vegas, Nev.) is in line for the win in Thursday's game as the RMAC Pitcher of the Year candidate tossed six innings and allowed five hits and two runs, while walking one and fanning five. In the game, Farrell, who retired the final seven Mountain Lions in order, threw 80 pitches and improved to 8-2 on the season.
Junior
Luke Ruby (Fort Collins, Colo./Resurrection Christian) replaced Farrell on the mound to begin the seventh inning and would allowed just one hit, while striking out three and walking none. Ruby, who picked up his first save of the season, retired nine of the 10 hitters he faced in the game.
Meanwhile, UCCS started their ace, Ryder Mancuso, on the mound in Thursday's opener as he lasted five innings and allowed five hits and two runs (both of which were unearned), while walking three and fanning three.
The Pack plated three runs in the second inning of Thursday's game thanks to two hits, two errors and a hit batsman to take a 3-0 lead. The two hits were RBI singles by Kelly and Howard, while Alvarez was hit by pitch with the bases loaded.
In the bottom of the third inning, UCCS used a lead-off solo homer by Trevor Dale and an RBI single by Kit Wiggington off of Farrell to pull the Mountain Lions within 3-2.
The Pack pushed its lead to 4-2 in the top of the sixth thanks to a hit, an error and a wild pitch by Trudeau. Trudeau's wild pitch allowed Kelly to score after he led off the inning with a hit by pitch an moved to third on a single by Howard.
UCCS had two hits from Bryce Peterson and their defense committed three errors in the game that led to three of the Pack's 15 runs being unearned in the contest.
The Pack left 13 runners on base, while UCCS stranded 6.
