Denver- The Metropolitan State University of Denver baseball team fell in both games to Emporia State on Thursday, February 8.  In game on the Roadrunners fell in a close 9-8 battle.  The Hornets took the second game 5-1.
 
Senior Beecher Strube (Casper, WY/Kelly Walsh High School) got his first start of 2018 on the mound in the first game of the day.  The first few innings went fast with neither side creating much offense.  Both teams made it up on the board in the third with the Roadrunners having the upper-hand.
 
Freshman Jimmy Holinger (Parker, CO/Regis Jesuit High School) was the first to make it on base in the third for MSU Denver hitting a single up the middle. Junior Logan Soole (Louisville, Colo./Monarch H.S.) followed, also hitting a single and advancing Holinger to third.  Donny Ortiz Jr. scored both runners to take the lead, hitting a double to right field. Senior Trent Maloney (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County H.S.) would wrap up the inning sending Ortiz home and ending the inning with the Roadrunners on top 3-1.
 
The Hornets lead off the top of the fourth inning knocking one out of the park cutting the lead to 3-2.  But the Roadrunners were able to hold them to just one, while scoring two of their own in the bottom of the inning. Holinger earned the two RBI hit to take the 5-2 lead.
 
Emporia State fought back in the top of the fifth having a huge inning, scoring four runs on five hits to gain 6-5 lead.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, senior Trent Maloney (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County H.S.) was the first to reach base hitting a double to left field. Senior Cale O'Donnell (Fort Collins, Colo./Rocky Mountain H.S.) would then hit a single to send Maloney home and tie the game up at six going into the sixth inning.
 
MSU Denver regained the lead in the seventh after a scoreless sixth from both sides. O'Donnell would score Maloney again for his second RBI of the game.
 
With the Roadrunners leading 6-7 the Hornets came up big, scoring three runs in the inning off one hit taking a 9-7 lead.
 
The Roadrunners were able to put one run up in the bottom of the ninth but that wouldn't be enough and the Hornets would run away with the win in game one.
 
The second game proved to be a battle much like the first.  There was just two runs scored through the first six innings.  The Hornets scored on run in the second and one run in the third to hold the 2-0 lead. There was just four hits in the game through the first six innings.
 
The Hornets extended their lead in the top of the seventh scoring three more runs on two hits.  Two runs came from a Roadrunners wild pitch and passed ball.
 
With the last chance coming for the Roadrunners in the ninth, O'Donnell was able to knock one out of the complex to get his team up on the board, however, that would be the lone run of the game and the Hornets would take a 5-1 win in game two.
 
The two sides will wrap up the series tomorrow, Friday, at noon.