GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Colorado State University Pueblo Baseball saw its stay at the 2025 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament last just two games as the ThunderWolves were eliminated from the double-elimination event with a 9-6 loss to top-seeded and 16th-ranked Colorado Mesa at The Diamond on the CMU campus. Thursday's loss followed Wednesday's 15-10 setback to MSU Denver in the tournament's opening round. 

With the loss, the Pack falls to 32-20 overall and will now await their hopes for a berth in the NCAA South Central Regional when the NCAA unveils the 56-team field for the 2025 NCAA Division II Baseball Tournament on Sunday, May 11 online at www.NCAA.com at 8 p.m. MT. In this week's most recent NCAA South Central Regional rankings, the Pack were ranked fourth. Meanwhile, Colorado Mesa remains undefeated in the tournament and improves to 38-11 on the season. 

In the Thursday's fifth game of the RMAC Tournament, the Pack outhit the Mavericks, 12-10, but the Pack defense committed three errors that led to four unearned runs and the Pack's five pitchers in the game combined to hit five batters and walk four in the setback. CMU had just one error in the game. 

Leading the way offensively for the Pack with two hits each was freshman designated hitter Noah Williams (Carson, Calif./Redondo Union), senior left fielder Wyatt Reginato (Cottonwood, Calif./Folsom Lake), sophomore center fielder Logan Kelly (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Capistrano Valley Christian) and senior shortstop Rob Mansour (La Verne, Calif./Cuesta College). Senior second baseman Brad Stone (Las Vegas, Nev./College of Southern Nevada) and Reginato each had two RBI in the game. 

The Pack jumped in front 1-0 in the top of the first in Thursday's game as they used a lead-off double by Williams and an RBI single by Reginato to score the first run of the game. 

CMU, who has won 13 consecutive regular season RMAC titles, used two hit by pitches, the latter coming with the bases loaded, a single, a Pack error, and two walks, including a bases loaded walk to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning against Pack redshirt junior hurler Jacob Petersheim (Broadway, Va./Broadway). Petersheim's second walk, which was issued to Stevenson Reynolds, chased the First-Team All-RMAC pitcher from the game and brought freshman Danny Retzlaff (Corona, Calif./Centennial) in from the bullpen, who prevented further damage by striking out Ethan Ezor with the bases loaded to end the inning. 

Petersheim earned a no-decision as he lasted just 0.2 innings and allowed one hit and two runs, while walking two, hitting two and striking out one, while Retzlaff tossed three innings and allowed three hits and three runs (one earned run), while striking out two and walking none. 

The Pack responded in the top of the third inning as they used five hits and a fielder's choice grounder to plate four runs and take a 5-2 lead in the game. The inning began with a lead-off double by Mansour and Mansour scored on an RBI single by Reginato, while fifth-year senior first baseman Christian Castaneda (El Paso, Texas/Otero JC) added a second run on a fielder's choice grounder to take a 3-2 lead. The fielder's choice extended Castaneda's reached base streak to 60 consecutive games dating to last season. Later in the inning, Stone gave the Pack a 5-2 lead on his two-run single through the right side that chased CMU starting hurler Sage Ferguson from the game. 

The Mavericks used a Reynolds double and an RBI single by Ezor off of Retzlaff to cut the Pack's lead to 5-3 and tied the game three batters later on a fielding error in center by Kelly and one batter later, Cameron Cartwright drilled an 0-1 pitch from sophomore reliever Jack Novak (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Thunder Ridge), who was the third pitcher of the game for the Pack, over the wall in left for a 2-run homer to give the home team a 7-5 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning.

In the top of the sixth, the Pack pulled within 7-6 thanks to two-out, solo homer over the wall in left center off the bat of Kelly. Kelly's homer was his fourth this season.

CMU loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth against Novak thanks to a single, a hit by pitch and an walk, before junior Cole Bloomer (Arapahoe, Colo./Lamar CC) came out of the bullpen and got out of the jam by striking out Joey Blank looking to end the inning and keep the score 7-6 in Mesa's favor. 

The Pack put the tying run on base in the seventh as Mansour led off the frame with a single, but that runner was erased when Williams grounded ito a 4-6-3 double play against CMU reliever Jordan Ellison, who was the third Mavericks pitcher of the game. 

In the bottom of the eighth, the Mavs added two insurance runs to push out to a 9-6 advantage thanks to a hit by pitch, an error on a failed pickoff attempt by redshirt freshman pitcher Tyler Clementz (Gilbert, Ariz./Basha) and two hits, including a 2-run single up the middle by Declan Wiesner off of Clementz, who was the fifth pitcher of the game for the Pack.

Tristan Wolf retired three of the four Pack hitters he faced in the ninth to seal CMU's fourth win this season over the Pack. 

CMU got a 3-for-5 day offensively from Cartwright, while Wiesner and Paul Schoenfeld each had two hits in the win. Cartwright also scored three times and had 2 RBI. The Mavs, though, left 10 runners on base in the game. 

Novak (2-2) took the loss on the mound for the Pack as he tossed two innings and allowed three hits and two unearned runs, while walking two and hitting one. 

Aidan Biaggi (2-0) earned the win in relief of Ferguson as he tossed 3.1 innings and allowed one hit and one run, while striking out two and walking none. In fact, for the game, CMU's bullpen tossed 6.1 innings and allowed three hits and one run, while striking out four and walking none. Ferguson pitched 2.2 innings and allowed nine hits and five runs, while not recording a strikeout or a walk. 

The Pack left three runners on base and was 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position and 6-for-13 with runners on base, while CMU finished the game 5-for-19 with runners on base and 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position.