PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo Baseball concludes a nine-game home stand to open the 2026 season here this weekend as the ThunderWolves host Northwest Missouri State for a four-game non-conference series at Rawlings Field.
The two teams open the weekend series with a single nine-inning game on Friday, Feb. 13 at 2 p.m., before playing single nine inning games on both Saturday, Feb. 14 and Sunday, Feb. 15 beginning at 1 p.m. and concluding the series with a single nine-inning game at noon on Monday, Feb. 16.
CSU Pueblo comes into the weekend sporting a 4-0 overall record after opening the season last week with a three-game sweep of MSU Billings and then collecting an 8-4 win at home on Tuesday over Regis University. The 4-0 start to the season is the first since 2024 when the Pack opened the season with a 4-0 record en route to finishing the campaign with a 29-23 overall record.
CSU Pueblo and Northwest Missouri State have never met on the diamond and it will mark the first time the Pack has played a school from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) since playing a four-game series during the 2024 season at Emporia State. The Pack went 2-2 in that four-game set against the Hornets.
Following this weekend's four-game non-conference series at home with Northwest Missouri State, the Pack will hit the road for a four-game series next weekend (Feb. 20-22) in Pomona, Calif., against Cal Poly Pomona.
ABOUT CSU PUEBLO
The Pack enters the weekend with a balanced attack at the plate and steady production on the mound in the early going this season as the Pack is outscoring its opponents, 41-22, through four games, including scoring double-digit runs in two of the three games last week against MSU Billings.
Coming into this weekend's play, the Pack is one of the top offensive teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference as they are second in the league in hitting with a .359 batting average and are averaging 10.3 runs per game and have an on-base percentage of .452 and an OPS of .980. The Pack leads the league in triples with four and has hit seven doubles and four home runs and has had 34 RBI and drawn 15 walks and is 5-for-6 on stolen bases.
Leading the way offensively for the Pack is senior rightfielder
Jeremiah Sanchez (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo West) as he is hitting a league-best .563 as he leads the team in hits (9), doubles (2) and is tied for second in runs with six. He has a .688 slugging percentage and a .588 on-base percentage and has hit safely in all four games this season.
In addition to Sanchez, sophomore leftfielder
Dax Howard (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) is hitting .545 with a 1.401 OPS as he had had six hits, scored four runs, hit a home run and had 2 RBI, while junior centerfielder
Logan Kelly (Mission Viejo, Calif./San Juan Capistrano Valley) is hitting .538 with seven hits and six runs scored and has a 1.215 OPS.
Senior utility player
George Andrews (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West) has provided early power as he is batting .438 with two home runs, 7 RBI and a .938 slugging percentage, which is third-best in the RMAC. Senior second baseman
Taehyung Kim (Marana, Ariz./St. Cloud State) has driven in six runs in three games, adding a double and a triple, while junior third baseman
Jason Arriola (Riverside, Calif./Norco) has contributed 5 RBI and has a 1.044 OPS.
Behind the plate, junior catcher
JJ Fontana (Fort Collins, Colo./Poudre) is hitting .571 in two games and has thrown out one would-be base stealer and has driven home two runs.
Perhaps the biggest strength for the Pack in the early going as been their pitching as they enter the weekend second in the RMAC in ERA at 4.25 through 36 innings, limiting opponents to a .293 batting average while recording 26 strikeouts.
The Pack's four starting pitchers this season – redshirt senior
Jacob Petersheim (Broadway, Va./Broadway), sophomore
Frank Flores Jr. (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy), sophomore
Tyler Clementz (Gilbert, Ariz./Basha) and senior
Luke Ruby (Fort Collins, Colo./Resurrection Christian) – have each recorded a quality start and have combined for an ERA of 0.86 as they have allowed 16 hits, three runs (two earned), while walking 7 and striking out 16 in 21 innings of work.
Ruby and Petersheim each has 0.00 ERA as they have each tossed 5.0 scoreless innings apiece. Ruby earned a win against Regis allowing just one unearned run in five innings, while Petersheim scattered two hits and struck out four in his win in the season opener against MSU Billings.
Flores, Jr. delivered six strong innings with one earned run in his start, while Clementz, who is the reigning RMAC Co-Freshman Pitcher of the Year, added five innings with one earned run and four strikeouts.
The top arms out of the bullpen for the Pack through the first four games have been senior
Alex Oliver (Grove, Okla./Coffeyville CC), junior
Jackson Adam (Windsor, Colo./Missouri Western) and senior
Cole Bloomer (Arapahoe, Colo./Lamar CC). Oliver has been made two scoreless appearances, while Adam has also made two scoreless appearances and has collected the team's lone save. Bloomer has also made two appearances on the mound and is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA as he has allowed two runs on five hits in four innings of work.
The Pack comes into the weekend with a .968 fielding percentage, which is fourth-best in the league as they have committed five errors in four games and have turned a league-best eight double plays. The Pack, though, has struggled with runners on base as they have stranded 34 runners in four games and are averaging 8.5 runners left on base per game this season.
Leading the Pack once again this season is
Bobby Applegate, who is in his fifth season as the program's head coach. Applegate, who was the Colorado Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year in 1995 playing for at the time playing for the University of Southern Colorado, has compiled an 114-100 overall record at his alma mater and has led the Pack to four straight 20-plus win seasons, including a 32-win campaign in 2025.
ABOUT NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE
Northwest Missouri State enters the weekend sporting a 5-3 overall record as the Bearcats have won three of its last four games with the lone setback being a 6-5 loss at Arkansas-Monticello in the series finale last Saturday. The Bearcats took three of four games from UAM and split its four game series at Southwestern Oklahoma State to open the season.
The Bearcats brings one of Division II's top power numbers into the weekend as they have hit 10 home runs—tied for 10th nationally—and have six different players with at least one long ball. Senior outfielder Frank Gall leads the team with three home runs and is batting .406 with 12 RBI and six stolen bases. Gall has recorded a hit in all eight games this season.
Senior infielder Jeremiah Cabuyaban is hitting .385 with a team-best .769 slugging percentage and 1.337 OPS, collecting six extra-base hits. Junior outfielder Jordi Ventura (.367) ranks second on the team with 11 hits, while junior first baseman John Connors is batting .333 with a .500 on-base percentage and a team-high nine walks.
As a team, Northwest is hitting .305 with six regular starters batting .300 or better. The Bearcats are also tied for the national lead in hit-by-pitches (25), showing a willingness to crowd the plate and create traffic on the bases.
On the mound, sophomore Jase Johnson has been dominant in relief, posting a 0.93 ERA with 12 strikeouts and just one walk in 9.2 innings of work. Senior left-hander Landon Wells has struck out 10 in eight innings and is 1-0 on the season, while senior Brock Steggall notched a save and has pitched 3.2 innings in relief.
Defensively, the Bearcats have a fielding percentage of .969 as they have committed seven errors in eight games and have turned two double play. In addition, the Bearcats have 70 runners on base and have hit into seven double plays. The Bearcats are leaving nearly nine runners on base per game.
Northwest Missouri State is coached by Tony Jandron, who is in his second season with the Bearcats. He guided Northwest to the 2025 MIAA Tournament championship game and set a program record for home runs (57) last year. The Bearcats were picked ninth in the 2026 MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Series Storylines