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DENVER - Metro State snapped its four-game losing streak at home on Saturday, defeating New Mexico Highlands 10-4. The Roadrunners improved to 10-20 overall and 7-17 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and the Cowboys fell to 23-10 and 16-8.

Gavin Purvis (Albuquerque, N.M./Cibola H.S.) lead the offensive charge for Metro, going 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Robbie Nickels (Phoenix, Ariz./Horizon H.S.) also had two hits and scored twice.

Though Metro starter, Carlos Luzon (Caracas, Venezuela/U.E. Instituto Escuela) did not allow a hit in the first inning, the Cowboys still tacked on a run thanks to an error and sacrifice fly to take an early lead.

With two outs in the third, Highlands added some insurance. Luis Saenz knocked in Kyle Davis to put Metro in a two-run hole.

In the bottom half, Metro retaliated in a big way. Nickels started the frame with a single. He later scored on an Alex Schrupp (Parker, Colo./Regis Jesuit H.S.) sacrifice fly. Evan Claus (Albuquerque, N.M./Eldorado H.S.) plated Daron Schulthies (Littleton, Colo./Heritage H.S.) on a hard hit groundball that forced a fielding error. The error kept the bases loaded for Gavin Purvis (Albuquerque, N.M./Cibola H.S.), who pummeled the ball over the left field fence.

The grand slam was Purvis' third home run of the season. Thanks to the Purvis bomb, Metro scored six runs in the third and held a four-run lead.

An inning later, Nickels kicked off the inning with a single once again. Schulthies smacked a two-run blast, his second of the year, to make it an 8-2 Metro lead.

Saenz homered in the sixth to draw the Cowboys within five. However, this was the last run that Luzon allowed.

He finished with two earned runs and two strikeouts. The Venezuelan right-hander tossed a career high seven innings and allowed just five hits.

Metro added to the lead in the sixth. Schulthies walked and later scored a throwing error. Alex Schrupp (Parker, Colo./Regis Jesuit H.S.) reached on a single.  Darryl Baca (Loveland, Colo./Loveland H.S.) chased him home on a one-bagger of his own.
The two-run frame made it a 10-3 Metro lead. Highlands scored once in the ninth, but Ryan Hutchinson (Denver, Colo./Cherry Creek H.S.) shut the door, sealing a 10-4 win for the Roadrunners.

Luzon earned the win to improve to 1-1. Chris Prokupek took the loss for the Cowboys falling to 3-4.

Metro State begins a three-weekend road trip with stops at Nebraska-Kearney, Colorado Mesa, and Colorado School of Mines, before returning home the first weekend of May to battle CSU-Pueblo.