Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score

DENVER - Metro State freshmen Nick Hammett (Broomfield, Colo./Broomfield H.S.) and Darryl Baca (Loveland, Colo./Loveland H.S.) led Metro State to a split on Sunday with Colorado Mesa as the host Roadrunners won game one 5-3 and lost 13-0 in game two. The Roadrunners are now 4-6 overall and 1-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while CMU is 8-4 and 3-1.

Game One
Hammett allowed just four hits and walked two with four strikeouts in seven innings, surrendering just one unearned run to earn his first career victory in his first collegiate start.

The Mavericks did not get a runner past second base until the seventh inning when an error allowed Rob Pena to move to third base with one out, and he then scored on a sacrifice fly by Braden Box. The run cut Metro's lead to 4-1.

The Roadrunners jumped on top in the second inning when Baca connected on his first career home run, a towering blast over the 402-foot sign in center field. It was the first home run this season for Metro State.

Robbie Nickels (Phoenix, Ariz./Horizon H.S.) and Mitch Gibbons (Franktown, Colo./Ponderosa H.S.) led off the fourth with base hits. Nickels came home on a ground out by Jeff Levett (Parker, Colo./Chaparral H.S.) and Gibbons scored on Baca's second home run, a two-run blast down the left field line to build a 4-0 lead.

After CMU cut the lead to 4-1 in the seventh, the Mavericks threatened to tie the game in the eighth. Reliever Ryan Hutchinson (Denver, Colo./Cherry Creek H.S.) allowed three straight hits to start the inning, including a double by Erik Kozel. He then hit a batter to load the bases with nobody out and a 4-2 lead.

Hutchinson struck out Jason Ross looking for the first out. Francisco Sixtos hit a soft liner to right field for a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 4-3, and Hutchinson escaped the jam with a ground out to second base to end the inning.

Nickels led off the top of the eighth by reaching on a wild pitch after striking out. The defensive miscue cost CMU as he later scored on a one-out double by Levett to add an insurance run.

After allowing a leadoff walk, closer Ty Jacobs (Denver/Cherokee Trail H.S.) retired the Mavericks with a strikeout and a double play to earn his second save of the season.

Game Two
The Roadrunners got off to a horrendous start and never recovered. Freshman starter Mike Thill (Littleton, Colo./Columbine H.S.) allowed nine runs in two-thirds of an inning before giving way to Eli Ford (Casper, Wyo./Kelly Walsh H.S.) in the top of the first.

With the large deficit, CMU lefthander Jared Christensen breezed through five innings to earn the win, allowing just three hits and one walk.

Ford pitched 4 1/3 innings in relief, allowing four runs (only one earned) his the longest outing of his career. Taylor Huyett (Broomfield, Colo./Legacy H.S.) tossed two scoreless innings to finish the game.

Metro State will host Colorado Mines at 3 p.m. on Friday.