Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score

DENVER – The Metro State baseball team opened the 2011 season with a sweep at home over Colorado State-Pueblo, winning game one 7-2 and game two 12-7. CSUP dropped to 2-4 this season.

Game One
Jake Draeger (Oak Grove, Minn./St. Francis H.S.) allowed just two hits in seven innings, while striking out a career-high 10 as Metro State took game one 7-2.

Metro State led 1-0 after the first inning as Mike Coffey (Highlands Ranch, Colo./ThunderRidge H.S.) scored on an error.

That was all the damage for either team until the seventh inning. CSU-Pueblo righthander Cole Stephens took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. The Roadrunners got leadoff double by David Fox (Lakewood, Colo./Faith Christian H.S.) in the sixth, but stranded him on third with nobody out after he advanced on a wild pitch.

Draeger surrendered a two-out walk in the top of the seventh before Jye Lamphere touched connected for the second hit of the game for the ThunderWolves, a home run to left field to put CSUP up 2-1.

The Roadrunners answered with three in the bottom of the inning. Robbie Nickels (Phoenix, Ariz./Horizon H.S.) tripled into the right-center gap to lead off the inning and David Kaplan (Colorado Springs, Colo./Doherty H.S.) followed with a double to right-center to tie the game. After CSUP went to its bullpen, Jacob Trimble (Danville, Ill./Schlarman H.S.) reached on a bunt single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Coffey grounded out to first base, hitting a high chopper that allowed Kaplan to score the go-ahead run. Trimble later scored on a throwing error.

Nate Van Bibber (Littleton, Colo./Douglas County H.S.) relieved Draeger in the eighth, recording two strikeouts and using a caught stealing to escape a one-out single.

Metro State added three more in the eighth on four hits and an error. Kaplan delivered an RBI single and Trimble hit a sacrifice fly. Kaplan scored the third run on a passed ball.

Van Bibber fired a 1-2-3 ninth to record the save. Coffey, Kaplan and Trimble each had two hits to lead Metro State offensively.

Game Two
The seven-inning affair in game two saw much more offense than the nine-inning game one as Metro State won 11-7. Bradshaw Perry (Aurora, Colo./Cherokee Trail H.S.) battled through 4 2/3 innings for the Roadrunners, but did not allow an earned run as all five runs he allowed were unearned. He scattered five hits and five walks, while striking out four for the win.

After a scoreless first inning, Metro State broke out for five runs in the second. Jordan Stouffer (Fort Collins, Colo./Rocky Mountain H.S.) led off with a double down the left field line and Brennan Brown (Thornton, Colo./Legacy H.S.) delivered a triple to center for the 1-0 lead. Kaplan later delivered an RBI double and Trimble successfully executed a squeeze play to bring home Kaplan. Ty Jacobs (Denver/Cherokee Trail H.S.) capped the inning with an RBI single to center to score Trimble.

The Roadrunners added four more in the third with two outs. Anthony Sylvester (Morrison, Colo./D'Evelyn H.S.) ripped a bases-clearing double and then scored on a base hit by Trimble.

Perry ran into trouble in the fourth, allowing five runs on three hits, a walk and an error. Perry loaded the bases in the fifth with two outs, but freshman Alex Hill (Casper, Wyo./Kelly Walsh H.S.) recorded the final out to end the inning on a fly ball.

The ThunderWolves added another run in the sixth and again in the seventh. Coffey blasted a home run to right-center to lead off the sixth for the final run for the Roadrunners.

Jacobs and Trimble led the team with two hits each in game two.

Metro State will play a doubleheader at Regis on Sunday.