GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Alex Fife belted a 3-2 pitch over the right-field wall to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning and give No. 3/2 Colorado Mesa a 7-6 win over Metropolitan State University of Denver in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament championship game. The Roadrunners fell to 28-22 this season, while CMU improved to 47-7 and will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Roadrunners scored twice in the top of the first after a double by Trent Maloney (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County H.S.) and a single by Darryl Baca (Loveland, Colo./Loveland H.S.). They led 3-1 after the top of the third following a ground out by Hunter Donaldson (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge H.S.) that scored Jeff Levett (Parker, Colo./Chaparral H.S.).

Austin Wallingford then blasted a three-run home run in the bottom of the inning, his fourth RBI of the game to give the Mavericks a 4-3 lead.

Trailing 5-3 in the sixth, Nick Comito (Lakewood, Colo./Mullen H.S.) hit a sacrifice fly to trim the deficit back to one run.

A solo home run from CMU's Zach McLeod put the Mavericks back in front by two until Alex Walker (Wheat Ridge, Colo./Wheat Ridge H.S.) ripped a two-run single and tied the game 6-6 with nobody out in the top of the eighth. The Mavericks escaped with no more damage in the inning and the score remained 6-6 until Fife's home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth.

Maloney and Baca each finished the game 2-for-3 with a run scored and a run batted in.

Kris Lalk (Lakewood, Colo./Green Mountain H.S.) started and last six innings, just two days after pitching a complete-game shutout against CMU. He gave up five runs on Sunday and struck out six.

Mike Thill (Littleton, Colo./Columbine H.S.) and Ryan Baca (Loveland, Colo./Loveland H.S.) each allowed one run in one inning.

Thill, Mitch Gibbons (Franktown, Colo./Ponderosa H.S.), Lalk and Marcus Bean (Fort Collins, Colo./Rocky Mountain H.S.) were all named to the all-tournament team.