Denver—The Metropolitan State University of Denver baseball team beat Sioux Falls 1-0 in Sunday's game to complete a sweep in the three-game series, with MSU Denver improving to 4-6 on the season and Sioux Falls dropping to 5-6.
 
Sophomore Jared Roley (Littleton, Colo./Heritage H.S.) took the mound for the Roadrunners in his second start and third appearance of the season.  Roley pitched eight impressive innings of shutout baseball, giving up six hits with three strikeouts and two walks en route to his first victory of the season.
 
The game remained scoreless going into the bottom of the fourth when junior Jake Ekman (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge H.S.) led off the inning with a single.  Ekman reached second on an error from the Cougars' second baseman and then advanced to third on a passed ball by the catcher.  Senior Nick Comito (Lakewood, Colo./Mullen H.S.) hit a sacrifice fly to score Ekman from third, giving the Roadrunners the sole run of the game.
 
Alongside Roley's shutout pitching, MSU Denver's cause was aided by a stellar defensive effort from the entire team as well as a number of miscues by the Cougars on the base paths. 

In the first frame the Cougars loaded the bases with one out, but a double play swiftly ended the inning.  Roley hit the leadoff batter in the second inning to put him on first, but only needed a pop fly out and another smooth double play from the infield to get out of the inning. 

In the top of the fourth, Ekman made a superb catch deep in the right corner of the field to record the first out of the inning.  Not to be outdone, with two men on in the sixth inning, freshman center fielder Aaron Germani (Littleton, Colo./ThunderRidge H.S.) made a gorgeous diving catch to preserve the shutout.  Later in the same inning, Sioux Falls had a runner on third that was gunned down by junior catcher Nick McCasky (Golden, Colo./Ralston Valley H.S.) to end the inning.
 
The Cougars' struggles on the base paths continued in the seventh inning.  Roley walked the first batter of the inning and hit the next batter to put runners on first and second with no outs.  With both of Sioux Falls' baserunners taking big leads, Roley turned and fired back to second to catch the unsuspecting runner in no-man's land.  A pickle ensued as Comito threw the ball to sophomore third baseman Trent Maloney (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County H.S.) who ran down the trapped runner for the first out, and then fired the ball to junior first baseman Andrew Paust (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa H.S.) who tagged out the Cougars other baserunner as he tried to advance for the second out.  The third out came one at-bat later on an easy grounder to put an end to inning and the Cougars' rally.
 
With MSU Denver clinging to a tight 1-0 lead going into the ninth, freshman Hunter Hogoboom (Arvada, Colo./Pomona H.S.) relieved Roley on the mound.  The first batter Hogoboom faced ripped a ball to deep right-center field that looked like trouble, but Germani made another outstanding catch to get the out.  Hogoboom retired two of the next three batters to complete the shutout for the Roadrunners and to earn his first save of the season.
 
The Roadrunners begin RMAC play on Friday, March 4 at 3 p.m. against Colorado School of Mines at The Regency Athletic Complex.