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DENVER - Metro State dropped its series opener 13-5 to Colorado State-Pueblo at home on Friday.  The loss dropped the Roadrunners to 7-6 overall and 4-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while CSUP improved to 12-6 and 6-3.

Evan Claus (Albuquerque, N.M./Eldorado H.S.) got the Roadrunners off to a great start, blasting a three-run home run in the bottom of the first for a 3-0 lead.  David Fox (Lakewood, Colo./Faith Christian H.S.) walked and Jordan Stouffer (Fort Collins, Colo./Rocky Mountain H.S.) singled with two outs to start the rally.

After the ThunderWolves scored once in the second and went scoreless in the third, Zach Krueger (Holyoke, Colo./Holyoke H.S.) led off the third with a double to right-center and scored on a base hit up the middle by Fox for a 4-1 lead.

It was all CSU-Puebo after that.  The ThunderWolves scored three times in the fourth as starter Jake Draeger (Oak Grove, Minn./St. Francis H.S.) started falling behind in the count, throwing first-pitch strikes to just two of the seven hitters he faced in the fourth.

CSUP scored again in the fifth and once in the sixth to take a 6-4 lead and chase Draeger from the game.

A leadoff walk in the seventh helped the ThunderWolves score two more times and two errors in the ninth led to five runs.

Jacob Trimble (Danville, Ill./Schlarman H.S.) scored on a fielder's choice by Mike Coffey (Highlands Ranch, Colo./ThunderRidge H.S.) in the seventh for Metro State's final run.

The Roadrunners managed just four hits in the game.

Draeger allowed six runs on 10 hits in just 5.1 innings this year, his shortest outing of the season.

Metro State pitchers combined to strike out 14 ThunderWolves, a season-high.

The two teams meet again on Saturday for two seven-inning games beginning at noon at Metro State.