DENVER – It's tough to top a perfect game as a single-game storyline, but the No. 17 MSU Denver baseball team pushed forward another incredible tale Thursday as Jake Barber hit a walk-off three-run homer off UCCS ace Daniel Silva for an improbable 5-3 victory.
 
"To juice it like that, off that pitcher, that's a big-time hit," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "We've had some big hits this year, but I'm not sure we've had a bigger one."
 
Barber, known more for his speed than his slugging, hit an opposite-field shot into the right field corner that just did clear the fence.
 
How unlikely was it? Let's let Barber explain.
 
"I've actually never hit a home run in a spring season before," he said. "So for this to be it, I have no words right now. I'm just loving every minute of it.
 
"At first I had no thoughts that it was going out at all. I was burning out of the box hoping to get a double. And when I saw it go out, I was just shocked."
 
MSU Denver (19-2 overall, 15-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) was down to its final out, down a run with no one on base, when freshman Jackson VanZee – who had homered earlier – hit a line drive single.
 
Then Colin Stone lifted a single to right, moving pinch runner Jayden Cordova to third. Jacob Moyer pinch ran for Stone, and Barber came to the plate.
 
"Of anyone in the lineup, he's probably one of a couple of guys you don't think will do that," Strain said. "But he's really athletic, really quick-twitch, and I have seen him jump some balls like that.
 
"But to go oppo down the line … as soon as he hit it, I knew we had won because it was staying straight and they were so far in the (right-center) gap that Moyer was going to be able to get around (if it was a double or triple). I didn't think it was going to be a home run until about the last millisecond."
 
Said Barber: "I went up there trying to stay with my approach from all day. Just stay flat (with the bat path) and solid up the middle. He just threw a low, outside fastball and I kind of just stuck with it."
 
Known as perhaps the fastest player on the team (Cordova is definitely in the conversation, too), Barber can also hit it out of the park once in a while in batting practice.
 
"I'm able to get a couple here and there," he said. "Especially if the wind is blowing out."
 
Barber's night under the bright lights is another testament to the depth of this Roadrunners team. The junior college transfer had only eight at-bats in the first 15 games of the season, but as time has gone on he's gotten more opportunities. Center fielder Owen Reynolds is among several regulars who have been out of the lineup in recent games.
 
"I told Jake how proud I am of him," Strain said. "Because Owen is playing well, and he (Barber) is a really good player. He was recruited to play center field, and then COVID happened and Owen comes back (for a second senior year). They were in a battle and Owen just got hot and played really well. But Jake didn't pout, he kept playing, and we got him some at-bats last week which was really big."
 
Said Barber: "Owen has had a heck of a year. And if he's going, then let him go and I'll keep working. I know I'll get my chance. And when I get my chance, I'll take full advantage of it. And I'm just happy I was able to do that today.
 
"It's hard, but I know I've got to stay on it, and I always put the team first. I'm making sure everyone around me is good and then we're able just go, and go as one."
 
In the opener of a four-game series against a UCCS team that is MSU Denver's best opponent thus far, the Roadrunners looked sharp early behind a first-inning RBI double by Niko Piazza and VanZee's fourth-inning homer.
 
Logan Soole was nearly untouchable on the mound, yielding only three hits through five scoreless innings.
 
But the Roadrunners were charged with four errors in the sixth inning, leading to two runs that tied the game. The first error came when third baseman Bill Ralston lost a throw from catcher Stone in the blazing sunset. Two throwing errors on ground balls also followed.
 
Once tying the game, UCCS (12-5, 8-5) took the lead on Jake Anderson's eighth-inning homer.
 
"I felt like the entire game, other than the one inning, that we were in control," Strain said. "Logan was in complete control. We took some really good swings and just missed a couple of balls. I felt good about it.
 
"But then we had a runner on second (in the fifth) and had two bad at-bats. Then Logan walks a guy and all of a sudden we can't play catch. We just let them back in it, then they got some momentum and then Logan made one bad pitch all night and they hit a home run and now we're down a run."
 
Soole finished with a no-decision, allowing five hits and three runs (one earned) while striking out 11. Reichle Arcilise struck out the side in the ninth and wound up the winner after Barber's heroics.
 
In a season where there have been plenty of easy wins, this one was special. Strain harkened back to the opening weekend of the season, when Niko Piazza's extra-inning walkoff single gave the Roadrunners a season-opening four-game sweep of Fort Hays State (Kan.).
 
"This is by far our best win," Strain said. "This one (Barber's homer) probably trumps that, just because of who we're playing, it's a conference game, that's their best guy (pitching) and they let him run. We still like that guys we have starting and in the bullpen for the rest of the series, so to get this first one is huge."
 
Included in that upcoming list of starters is Cade Crader, who threw that aforementioned perfect game in his previous starters. The Roadrunners and Mountain Lions are scheduled to play a doubleheader Friday at 1 p.m.