Golden, Colo.- The Metropolitan State University of Denver baseball team split it doubleheader with Colorado School of Mines on Saturday, March 18. The Roadrunners are now 10-11 overall and 6-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
The Roadrunners took game one of the doubleheader 11-8 and fell 10-3 in game two against the Orediggers.
 
MSU Denver came out of the gates on fire scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Senior Jake Thurston (Centennial, Colo./Grandview H.S.) lead off for the Roadrunners hitting a single through the middle. Junior Hunter Donaldson (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge H.S.) hit a single to right field. Junior Cale O'Donnell (Fort Collins, Colo./Rocky Mountain H.S.) then sent Thurston home for the first run of the game on a double. Junior Sean Kennedy (Aurora, Colo./Grandview High School) kept the Roadrunners rolling hitting a sacrifice fly to score Donaldson. The game went into the bottom of the first with the Roadrunners on top 2-0.
 
Junior Javi Vega (Chula Vista, Calif./Castle Park H.S.) was the starting pitcher in game one for the Roadrunners. Colorado Mines scored four runs on four hits and a Roadrunners error to take a 4-2 lead at the end of the first inning.
 
After a scoreless second inning for both sides, the Orediggers made it back on the board in the bottom of the third scoring two more runs off a homerun to extend the lead to 6-2.
 
The Roadrunners answered back having a five-run strong inning in the top of the fourth. With O'Donnell and Kennedy both reaching base on singles, senior Marcus Bean (Fort Collins, Colo./Rocky Mountain H.S.) hit a single up the middle to score O'Donnell. Senior Derek Stimpson (Colorado Springs/Doherty H.S.) was then able to send Kennedy home on a fielder's choice for the second run of the inning. The last three runs came off a bases-clearing double from senior Jake Ekman (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge H.S.) to make the score 7-6 going into the bottom of the fourth.

The Orediggers were able to tie the game at seven in the bottom of the fourth scoring on a wild pitch.
 
Both teams put a homerun on the board in the fifth inning. Bean homered to left field to score two runs for the Roadrunners. Wardle from Mines matched, hitting one out of the park with no one on base. The Roadrunners had to 9-8 edge over the Orediggers heading into the sixth inning.
 
In the top of the sixth, the Roadrunners cemented the game scoring two runs. Junior Donny Ortiz, Jr. and Thurston reached base on walks with Ekman hitting a sacrifice fly, earning his fourth RBI of the game scoring Ortiz. Donaldson hit a single to score Thurston for the final run of game one, with the Roadrunners earning the win 11-8.
 
In game two of the doubleheader, Thurston got the game rolling for the Roadrunners knocking one out of the park on the first pitch of the game.
 
Sophomore Hunter Hogoboom (Arvada, Colo./Pomona H.S.) started on the mound for the Roadrunners in game two. Colorado Mines answered back in the bottom of the first tying the game at 1-1. The Orediggers took the lead in the bottom of the second inning on a homerun to right field. Colorado Mines would go on to score two more runs in the inning going into the third on top 4-1.
 
Mines put up three runs in the third inning to extend its lead to 7-1 with the Orediggers scoring a two-run homer.
 
MSU Denver would score two runs in the fourth inning which proved to be the last runs of the game for the Roadrunners. Donaldson hit a two-run homer to right field to score Ekman and make the score 7-3. However, that would not be enough with Colorado Mines scoring one run in the bottom of the fourth and two in the fifth.
 
The Roadrunners and Orediggers will conclude their four game series tomorrow in Golden with a 12 noon start time.