GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Top-seeded tournament host Colorado Mesa scored multiple runs in each of the first five innings and then held off a late MSU Denver rally Friday night to stay alive in the RMAC baseball tournament with 14-10 victory.
After three days of play, MSU Denver, UCCS and Colorado Mesa are still alive with one loss each.
MSU Denver plays UCCS in an elimination game Saturday at 1 p.m., and the winner will face Colorado Mesa, ranked Nos. 10 and 14 nationally, in a 4:30 p.m. winner-take-all championship game.
"I told our guys we were going to have to win two games anyway," MSU Denver coach
Ryan Strain said. "We're just going to have to win two (Saturday) now. We have the talent to do it. We just have to clean up some mistakes and pitch it better, and we can't give away some of the at-bats we did either."
MSU Denver, playing as the home team since it was the last remaining unbeaten team, trailed 6-1 after 2 ½ innings, but back-to-back homers by
Bill Ralston and
Ross Smith pushed across three runs to make it 6-4. It was the first of two homers for Smith, who now has six homers in five games against Colorado Mesa this season.
But Mesa (39-13) came back with two runs in the fourth and three in the fifth to lead 11-4.
"We just got off to bad start, gave them too many opportunities and made some mistakes defensively that extended innings," Strain said. "When you give up a crooked number five innings in a row, it puts you on your heels."
MSU Denver (33-20) scored in each of the final four innings, including three in the ninth – which included Smith's second homer – and eventually had the tying run on deck but couldn't get over the hump.
Colorado Mesa's final three runs – one in the seventh and two in the ninth – were unearned as a result of MSU Denver defensive miscues. The Mavericks also scored an unearned run in the first inning.
Smith was 3-for-4 with five RBIs, while
Cam Yuran,
Chase Anderson and
Tanner Garner all had two hits.
Colin Stone homered.
"We hit well – four homers and we scored 10 runs – but I really thought we should have scored more," Strain said. "You hate to be hard on them when you score 10 runs against a good team, but we gave away some at-bats. And Mesa made some plays when they needed them.
"Still, we battled back and we had the tying run on deck at the end. But it just didn't happen."
