DENVER – Gannon Reiswig pitched five strong innings to lead a pitching staff that allowed only two hits, and Zach Walsh had four hits and a homer to pace a 15-hit attack as MSU Denver got across-the-board contributions in a 12-2 victory Friday over Sioux Falls (S.D.).
 
"Gannon gave us a pretty good start," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "The (strike) zone was pretty tight today, but the umpire did a good job and was consistent and never changed. Our pitchers got after it and threw strikes.
 
"Offensively, we took much better swings. Our approaches were better. We did a lot better job of stuff we've been working on."
 
MSU Denver scored in every inning but the first, rapped out a season-high hit total and tied a school record in being hit by pitches seven times.
 
Walsh was 4-for-5, failing to reach only on a sliding catch of his line drive to right field in the second inning, while driving in three runs. He doubled and scored in the fourth inning, singled in the sixth, then clubbed a three-run homer in the seventh to make it 11-0.
 
"We worked really hard this week," Walsh said. "All we did was hit. To come out and do what we did today felt really good, and it was needed."
 
Reiswig (1-2) did what was needed in what has become his role as MSU Denver's series-opening starter. He gave up only one hit and pitched around four walks while striking out three.
 
"Give credit to the offense and the defense," Reiswig said. "I was working from behind in the count a lot and made Gonzo (catcher Alex Gonzales) work harder. I only had three strikeouts, the rest came from the defense making plays.
 
"I had to grind it out. I didn't have my best stuff, and just tried to work through it."
 
With a nice lead and a modest pitch count of 70, Reiswig (who has a 3.00 ERA in 21 innings this season, with 20 strikeouts) was given the rest of the day off the stay fresh for next Friday's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener against CSU-Pueblo.
 
"He's just a workhorse, a tough, hard-nosed kid," Strain said. "He goes five innings, gives up no runs and one hit, and he's mad at himself. A lot wasn't his fault because it was a tight zone, but he handled it, and kept throwing strikes."
 
Walsh's big day sent his batting average skyrocketing to .389, just behind the team-best .390 of Cade Peters.
 
"Walsh is a really good hitter," Strain said. "And I've been telling him forever that he gets himself out at times. If he stops getting himself out, stops overswinging and trying to do too much, he can be a real force in this league. He doesn't have to try to do too much."
 
Walsh provided plenty of offensive support for his roommate, Reiswig, after making adjustments with his hands on a steady diet of breaking balls.
 
"They were throwing a lot of offspeed to me and I was yanking everything foul, and I finally realized I had to keep my hands in and drive it through the middle," Walsh said.
 
Chase Anderson also homered for the Roadrunners, and Anderson, Brice Martinez, Dylan Nelson, Gonzales and Zach Paschke all had two hits. Paschke, the Roadrunners' everyday leadoff hitter last season, showed signs of emerging from a season-opening slump.
 
"I'm happy for Walsh and Paschke both, because we put in a lot of work with them this week trying to make some adjustments in their swings," Strain said.
 
Gonzales double twice, including a two-run drive down the left field line in the second inning to plate the game's first two runs. Anderson hit his team-high fourth homer with one out in the third inning to make it 3-0, then Martinez added two-run single in the fourth for a 4-0 lead.
 
In the fifth, Walsh and Spencer Gendreau executed a double steal, and Walsh scored on an errant throw by the catcher on the play. Paschke added an RBI single for a 6-0 lead.
 
All-American Logan Soole, pinch-hitting in his first appearance since the opening weekend of the season, was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the sixth to force in a run. He was also hit by a pitch later in the game.
 
The Roadrunners were also hit by pitches seven times in a March 4, 2005, game against Northwest Nazarene (Idaho).
 
MSU Denver erupted for four runs in the seventh on Nelson's RBI single and the three-run shot by Walsh, and made it 12-2 when Nelson doubled to left center in the eighth.
 
MSU Denver improved to 3-9, while Sioux Falls dropped to 1-3.

The series continues Saturday with an 11 a.m. doubleheader. The series had been scheduled for single games Saturday and Sunday, but has been changed due to rain in Sunday's forecast.
 
"We just started a little slow this season," Walsh said. "Once our bats get going, the show is over."