Box Score SAN ANGELO, Texas – MSU Denver bashed seven homers, including four in a 10-run second inning, but Texas A&M-Kingsville scored multiple runs in five innings and held off the Roadrunners 18-15 in a wild first-round game Thursday in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional.
The defeat dropped MSU Denver (35-21) into a game with top-seeded host Angelo State (Texas), ranked Nos. 4 and 6 in Division II, later Thursday night with elimination on the line.
Zach Schuler and
Colin Stone each hit two homers for the Roadrunners, who had seven homers in a game for the first time since May 3, 2008, against Mesa State College.
Texas A&M-Kingsville's Jake Chapman was 5-for-6 with two homers and seven RBIs.
Texas A&M-Kingsville (32-18) scored four runs in the bottom of the first, but MSU Denver bounced back with four massive homers in the top of the second – a leadoff shot by
Zach Schuler, a two-run laser by Stone, a three-run torpedo by
Bill Ralston and a two-run blast by
Cam Yuran.
The second inning also included an RBI double by
Chase Anderson that put MSU Denver within 4-2, and a run-scoring single by
Tanner Garner that made it 4-3 before the Roadrunners scored the next seven runs courtesy of the long ball.
It's the first time MSU Denver hit four homers in an inning since the Feb. 19, 2021, season opener – a 16-10 win over Fort Hays State (Kan.), when Stone and Ralston followed homers by
Jake Williams and
Owen Reynolds in the sixth inning.
The Javelinas responded with two in the bottom of the second and four in the third to tie the game 10-10, but once again the Roadrunners answered in the top of the fourth.
Schuler blasted his second homer of the game, then
Tanner Garner dropped a two-run homer over the wall in left to make it 13-10.
After the Javelinas answered with four in the bottom of the inning, the offenses took a couple of innings off.
Texas A&M-Kingsville scored three in the bottom of the seventh to make it 17-13, but that only brought the Roadrunners back to life – Stone hit his second homer of the game, a two-run shot – to make it 17-15.
Chapman's second homer came in the bottom of the eighth and gave the Javelinas an 18-15 lead.
