PUEBLO, Colo. – The Metropolitan State University of Denver baseball team split a doubleheader with CSU-Pueblo on Saturday, pulling out a come-from-behind 10-8 victory for its first 2020 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win in the first game before dropping game two, 4-2.
Friday night's defensive troubles continued into the early stages of Saturday's first game, giving MSU Denver an undesirable taste of déjà vu. A 2-0 CSU-Pueblo lead in the second inning quickly became 4-0 thanks to two unearned runs after an error.
"We've not handled the baseball the way we've needed to on some plays that should be made," MSU Denver coach
Ryan Strain said Saturday.
The Roadrunners began to chip away in the third, as the hot-hitting
Zach Paschke singled then scored on an RBI double from
Brice Martinez. The ThunderWolves rallied again in the bottom of the fourth, though, scoring two more runs to build a 6-1 advantage.
MSU Denver would need the offensive breakthrough that eluded them in Friday's game in order to climb back into game one on Saturday. That's exactly what they got, as the Roadrunners wasted no time getting hot at the plate after CSU-Pueblo's fourth-inning two-spot.
Two plunkings sandwiched an
Owen Reynolds single to load the bases with no outs in the top of the fifth. Paschke walked home a run before
Chase Anderson reached on an infield single to move everyone up a spot and drive home MSU Denver's third run of the game.
That brought the mighty
Logan Soole to the plate, and Logan did what Logan does, driving a bases-clearing double to centerfield to even the score at six runs apiece. Soole advanced to third on a single from
Zach Walsh and later scored on a wild pitch as the Roadrunners took their first lead of the series, 7-6.
MSU Denver piled on three insurance runs in the top of the sixth with a two-out rally.
Chase Anderson drove home
Alex Gonzales with an RBI single before walks were issued to Walsh and Soole to load the bases for
Cade Peters. He made the most of the opportunity with a two-run single, extending the Roadrunners' lead to 10-6.
The insurance runs came in handy for MSU Denver, as CSU-Pueblo rallied with two runs in the bottom of the seventh. It was too little, too late, though, as the Roadrunners escaped with their first conference win.
Anderson was 2-for-4 with two runs, two RBIs and a steal in the opener, while Soole was 1-for-3 with two runs and three RBIs. Paschke went 1-for-2 with two runs and an RBI, while Peters was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Jimmy Dobrash got the start on the hill in the opener, going 3 1/3 innings and giving up four earned runs while striking out three.
Conner Nantkes came on in relief and took it home for MSU Denver, striking out five in 3 2/3 innings while giving up two earned runs for his second win of the season.
"He's kind of a bulldog," Strain said of Nantkes, who has been a go-to relief option for MSU Denver this year. "He's going to give us his best shot. With some of the up and downs we've had, I just wanted to go with my gut and say, 'I want this guy to have the ball and we're gonna win or lose with him.'"
Austin Stone got the start on the mound in the second game as MSU Denver looked for an important road doubleheader sweep, but he and
Javi Vega fell victim to a lack of run support.
Stone gave up single runs in the second and fourth innings, the latter of the unearned variety after another defensive miscue. He exited for Vega with one out in the bottom of the fifth after a two-run double gave CSU-Pueblo a 4-0 lead.
Vega was strong in relief, finishing the game with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit ball.
The MSU Denver offense sputtered, though, as the Roadrunners had just one hit in the first six innings of the game. A big seventh-inning rally would be necessary for a comeback.
Dylan Nelson singled to start the seventh and an
Owen Reynolds single followed. Both advanced a base on an error after Reynolds' hit, and MSU Denver had men on second and third with no outs.
Andrew Chavez grounded out to first base to send Nelson home, making it 4-1 with Reynolds on third and one out. Paschke delivered once again with an RBI single, but
Brice Martinez grounded into a double play to bring an abrupt end to the rally for a 4-2 final.
"We didn't make some pitches when we needed to make them, we had some weird plays and offensively we didn't have enough good at-bats," Strain said. "We've got to have good at-bats and hit as a team."
The Roadrunners had just four singles in the game, with one each from Peters, Nelson, Reynolds and Paschke. Gunner Pickett fired a complete game for CSU-Pueblo, striking out seven.
"We need our best players to play well," said Strain. "We hit a couple balls hard in situations and just couldn't capitalize."
The same two squads are back at it again tomorrow as MSU Denver goes for the series split. First pitch in Pueblo is scheduled for noon MDT.
"They're a solid team; they're a good team," Strain said of the ThunderWolves. "They've won a lot of close games. It's a tough place to play. We've got to even this thing up. We need to find a way to win tomorrow."
