GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - No. 3/2 Colorado Mesa (46-7) scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning to hand Metropolitan State University of Denver (28-21) its first loss at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday in Grand Junction, Colorado. The two teams will meet again at noon on Sunday for the championship.

Roadrunners starter Julian Garcia (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge H.S.) scattered just three hits and one run in seven innings, striking out five. 

Hunter Donaldson (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge H.S.) drove in Mitch Gibbons (Franktown, Colo./Ponderosa H.S.) to tie the game 1-1 with two outs in the sixth.

The Mavericks then scored two unearned runs against reliever Ryan Baca (Loveland, Colo./Loveland H.S.) in the eighth to lead 3-1. It was Alex Walker (Wheat Ridge, Colo./Wheat Ridge H.S.)'s turn for a two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to keep the Roadrunners within one.

CMU broke the game open in the top of the ninth, scoring five times with three hits, three walks and a hit batter.

Jake Thurston (Centennial, Colo./Grandview H.S.) delivered a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to close the final gap. He finished 2-for-4 at the plate. Gibbons, Marcus Bean (Fort Collins, Colo./Rocky Mountain H.S.) and Nick Comito (Lakewood, Colo./Mullen H.S.) also had two hits each.