DENVER - The Metropolitan State University of Denver baseball team defeated Adams State in two games on Saturday March 25. In game one of the doubleheader, the Roadrunners won 4-1 and in game two the Roadrunners took a 17-3 win over the Grizzlies. The Roadrunners are 12-13 overall and 8-7 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Grizzlies fell to 9-16 overall and 3-8 in the conference.
 
Junior Javi Vega started on the mound in game one of the doubleheader for the Roadrunners, holding a perfect first inning for his team with the Grizzlies earning no hits and no runs. However, the Grizzlies would score a run in the top of the second on a homer, but that proved the be the lone run for the Grizzlies in game one.
 
The remainder of the game belonged to the Roadrunners, with the Roadrunners taking the lead in the bottom of the second holding the advantage throughout the rest of the game.
 
The second inning runs came after junior Sean Kennedy hit a double to left field, followed by senior Marcus Bean reaching base on a single. Junior Donny Ortiz Jr. then hit a tremendous double to right field to score Kennedy and Bean, putting the Roadrunners up 2-1.
 
MSU Denver scored its final runs of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with freshman Dylan Nelson making it on the base first for the Roadrunners, hitting a single through the right side. Ortiz then reached base on a walk, followed by senior Jake Thurston reaching on a single. Senior Jake Ekman sent Nelson home, with Ortiz scoring the final run of the game on a Grizzly error.
 
That would prove to be enough for the Roadrunners as they kept the Grizzlies scoreless through the rest of the game. Vega pitched all seven innings of the first game while posting seven strikeouts and holding the Grizzlies to four hits in the game to the Roadrunners' 10.
 
In the second game, freshman Jerome Bohannon II started at pitcher for MSU Denver, with the Grizzlies going scoreless until the final inning of the game.
 
The Roadrunners exploded in the first inning, scoring six runs off five hits. With Ekman and Thurston on base, junior Hunter Donaldson hit a single to right field to score Thurston for the first run of the inning. The next two runs came from junior Trent Maloney earning a base hit to score Donaldson and Ekman. With Maloney and Kennedy on base, freshman Adam Tulley hit a strong single up the middle to send Kennedy home. Senior Nick McCasky wrapped up the scoring in the bottom of the first hitting one out of the park to take the game into the second inning with MSU Denver on top 6-0.
 
MSU continued its explosive offense in the second inning, adding two more runs to its lead. Ekman and Donaldson both reached base off back-to-back singles up the middle, followed by both advancing on a wild pitch. Kennedy sent Ekman home on a fielder's choice to extend the Roadrunners' lead to 7-0. The eighth run came when Maloney hit a single through the left side to score Donaldson.
 
The Roadrunners continued to lock down on the defensive end as well, keeping the Grizzlies scoreless in the third while scoring another four runs in the bottom of the third. The first came from a sacrifice fly from Ekman to score McCasky, with Ortiz Jr. following scoring the 10th run on a Grizzly wild pitch. The final two runs of the inning came off hits from Kennedy and Maloney to score Thurston and O'Donnell to put the Roadrunners up 12-0.
 
Four more runs came in the fourth inning for MSU Denver while the Grizzlies remained with zero on the scoreboard. McCasky reached base on balls with Thurston reaching on a single through the left side. Sophomore Aaron Germani singled to right field to send McCasky home. Donaldson then countered, singling down the left line to score Thurston. Donaldson went on to score the final run of the inning when Kennedy singled to right field, making the score 16-0.
 
The Roadrunners scored one run in the fifth to extend the lead to 17-0 off a sacrifice fly from Donaldson with Ortiz Jr. scoring the lone run of the inning.
 
Adams State made it on the board in the top of the sixth scoring one run off one hit and the Roadrunners were held scoreless in the sixth for their only scoreless inning of the game.
 
Adams scored two more runs in the top of the seventh to end the game with the Roadrunners on top 17-3.
 
The series with the Grizzlies will wrap up Sunday, March 26 with one game at noon.