PUEBLO, Colo. - The Metro State baseball team fell in the first round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament, losing to New Mexico Highlands 9-4 on Wednesday in Pueblo. The Roadrunners will now play the winner of top-seeded Mesa State and sixth-seed Regis.

Highlands jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, scoring on a sacrifice fly and a passed ball. But Metro State tied it up in the top of the second on a two-run single to right by Brennan Brown (Thornton, Colo./Legacy H.S.) that scored Tyree Abshire (Paonia, Colo./Paonia H.S.) and Jordan Stouffer (Fort Collins, Colo./Rocky Mountain H.S.).

The Cowboys then broke the game open, scoring the next six runs with one in the second and five in the third to take an 8-2 lead after three innings.

Matt McConnell (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson H.S.) led off the top of the fourth with a solo home run to left field. Reliever Ross MacDonald gave the Roadrunners a chance to get back in the game, allowing just one run in the fifth inning, while throwing 3.2 innings of relief. But Metro State was held scoreless again until the ninth inning.

Abshire was hit by a pitch to lead off the ninth. After a fielder's choice by Dakota Nahm (Englewood, Colo./Thomas Jefferson H.S.), Brown and pinch hitters Marcel Dominguez (Carlsbad, N.M./Carlsbad H.S.) and Kevin Coughlin reached on three consecutive singles with Nahm scoring on Dominguez's base hit down the left field line.

Drew Vassil pitched all nine innings for Highlands, scattering nine hits for the win.

Steven Green (Denver, Colo./Legacy H.S.) suffered the loss for the Roadrunners, lasting 2.1 innings. MacDonald, Kyle Orgill and Tony Weber (Elizabeth, Colo./Elizabeth H.S.) all combined to allow just one run in 5.2 innings of relief.

Dominguez had three hits to lead the offense and McConnell and Brown with two hits each. McConnell added a double and a home run.