PUEBLO, Colo. – Brad Helton turned in the quality start the MSU Denver pitching staff was seeking and Bill Ralston had two homers and four RBIs among his three hits as the Roadrunners picked up a 14-3 victory over CSU-Pueblo on Sunday, salvaging a doubleheader split while winning the final game of the series.
 
MSU Denver lost the opener 12-8.
 
"I'm proud of the way our guys battled and bounced back and got the win in the fourth game," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said.
 
As in Saturday's doubleheader, MSU Denver faced a nearly insurmountable deficit in the opener, falling behind 6-1 after two innings and 11-2 after seven. The Roadrunners (13-9 overall, 4-4 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) scored five ninth inning-runs to make it close.
 
"Overall I'm frustrated," Strain said. "We obviously swung the bats well all weekend. If you had told me we were going to score 44 runs – after only giving up nine last weekend – I would have thought we were going to be in pretty good shape.
 
"But obviously we didn't pitch very well the first three games. Our hitters continued to battle and fight all weekend. We were down quite a few runs several times and never blinked, they just kept scoring."
 
In the second game, a seven-inning affair, Helton (1-0) worked the first six, allowing one run on four hits while walking one and striking out 10.
 
Ralston hit two-run homers in each of the first two innings, and Ross Smith hit a three-run homer in the third as part of a 3-for-4, five-RBI game. Tanner Garner also had a three-hit game, and Cam Yuran (who hit two homers in the opener) added two hits. Smith also homered in the opener, but the Roadrunners had fallen behind too far and too fast.
 
"We've got to get our starting pitching figured out," Strain said. "We'll get back to work this week and hopefully we'll have it fixed going into next weekend."