Golden, Colo.- The Metropolitan State University of Denver baseball team fell 11-5 to Colorado School of Mines on Friday, March 17. The Roadrunners fell to 9-10 overall and 5-4 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Orediggers improved to 11-7 overall and 5-4 in conference.
 
Junior Donny Ortiz Jr. started on the mound for the Roadrunners and held the Orediggers scoreless through the first two innings. The Roadrunners were also held scoreless by the Orediggers through innings one and two.
 
Senior Marcus Bean (Fort Collins, Colo./Rocky Mountain H.S.) began the scoring for both sides, sending the ball out of the park in the top of the third to put the Roadrunners up 1-0. Thurston then made it on base hitting a single, with junior Hunter Donaldson (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge H.S.) scoring Thurston off a single up the middle. Going into the bottom of the third, MSU Denver led Colorado Mines 2-0.
 
The Orediggers fought back in the third to put three runs up on the board off of three hits and two Roadrunner errors.
 
After an uneventful fourth inning for both sides, the Orediggers opened up scoring in the bottom of the fifth leading off with a homer to right field. The Orediggers would go on to score two more runs going up 6-2.
 
The Roadrunners answered back in the top of the sixth, putting two more runs up. With junior Sean Kennedy (Aurora, Colo./Grandview High School) sending senior Jake Ekman (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge H.S.) home on a single RBI through the right side. Kennedy would then go on to score the final run for the Roadrunners that inning on an Oredigger error to cut the lead to 6-4.
 
Despite the Roadrunners fight, the Orediggers would put up five more runs while the Roadrunners put up one more in the top of the eighth when junior Cale O'Donnel hit a home run to right field. However, Colorado Mines would take game one 11-5.
 
The Roadrunners will continue the four game series against the Orediggers tomorrow in a double header with the first game starting at 12 noon.