DENVER, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo baseball opened a four-game Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series here Friday afternoon with a 16-2 setback to Regis University at the Regis Baseball Field.
With the loss, the Pack falls to 8-14 overall and 0-5 in the league, while Regis improved to 10-16-1 overall and 1-7-1 in the league. Both teams entered Friday's series opener winless in RMAC play.
The Pack, which has now lost five straight and nine of its last 10 games overall, was held to just six hits in the series opener. Regis finished the game with 15 hits and was walked five times.
CSU Pueblo hung tough early and pulled within a run in the third inning, but the Rangers broke things open with an eight-run sixth inning to turn an 8-2 lead into a 16-2 lead.
Regis used two hits and a Pack error in the bottom of the first inning to take a 3-0 lead in the game.
The Pack, though, came back after surrendering three runs in the bottom of the first as they answered in the third inning, capitalizing on a pair of hits and a Regis error to pull within 3-2. In the inning, senior second baseman
Taehyung Kim (Marana, Ariz./St. Cloud State) led off the frame with a single and moved to second when redshirt senior shortstop
Kyle Miller (Pueblo, Colo./Colorado Mesa) was hit by a pitch and after senior rightfielder
Jeremiah Sanchez (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo West) moved the runners up a base on a ground out, sophomore first baseman
Tyler Clementz (Gilbert, Ariz./Basha), who finished 3-for-4 at the plate on the day, brought home Kim on an RBI single. Following Clementz's single, junior third baseman
Jason Arriola (Riverside, Calif./Norco) reached on an error that allowed Miller to score to cut the Regis lead to one run.
Regis answered back in the bottom of the third thanks to a single and an RBI double by Mason Pettingill to take a 4-2 lead.
The Rangers' lead grew to 5-2 in the fourth, and then Regis broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth as they used a solo homer by Pettingill, an RBI double by Ethan Wood, and an RBI single by Ayden Harrison off of redshirt senior
Jacob Petersheim (Broadway, Va./Broadway) to take an 8-2 lead.
Regis sent 13 hitters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and used six hits and an error to plate eight runs and take a 16-2 lead. In the inning, the Pack walked four Ranger hitters, including bringing home a run when junior reliever
Jackson Adam (Windsor, Colo./Missouri Western) walked Harrison with the bases loaded.
Clementz paced the Pack offense with three of their six hits and drove home the Pack's lone RBI. Kim added a hit and a run scored, while Sanchez and junior pinch hitter
Yahir Ramirez (Fontana, Calif./Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) each contributed singles in the loss.
On the mound, Petersheim (2-3) took the loss after allowing eight runs (seven earned) over five innings with five strikeouts and one walk. The Pack bullpen combined to surrender eight runs in the sixth inning as three relievers allowed eight hits, walked four, and struck out one.
Pettingill paced Regis at the plate as he was 3-for-4 with four runs scored and a home run, while Harrison and Linus Fleek each drove in three runs and combined for four hits as Regis tallied 15 hits in the game.
Rocco Harmon (2-3) pitched six innings for the Rangers and allowed five hits and two runs (one earned), while striking out five and walking one. Colter Wilson allowed a hit and walk in the seventh.
Both teams committed two errors in the game, and the teams combined to strand 11 runners, with the Pack leaving eight and Regis leaving three.
The two teams will continue the four-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 21, beginning at noon, and conclude the series with a single nine-inning game on Sunday, March 22, beginning at noon.
