CONROE, Texas – Jaiden Geist and
Jenna Medhus hit back-to-back, first-inning homers and
Hannah DiFabio drove in four runs as MSU Denver defeated Texas A&M International 11-5 Friday in the Roadrunners' season opener at the DII Spring Invitational Kickoff.
"It's always nice to start the season with a win," MSU Denver coach
Annie Van Wetzinga said. "We came out with good energy and focus."
MSU Denver started swiftly in the top of the first inning, as
Kami Grammerstorf was hit by a pitch, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. With two outs, Geist homered to left field and Medhus followed with her shot to right. Medhus, a true freshman, became the first Roadrunner to homer in her first at-bat since Olivia Dampier in 2020.
"We put a lot of runners on base and had a ton of scoring opportunities," Van Wetzinga said. "Obviously it was nice to jump out with a lead on the two-out home runs."
DiFabio delivered a two-run double in the fourth to break a 3-3 tie and put the Roadrunners ahead to stay, and then
Audrey Burt followed with a two-run triple that made it 7-3.
Texas A&M International crept within 7-5 after six innings, but an RBI single by Grammerstorf and a two-run triple by DiFabio, who scored on a throwing error on the play, put the advantage at six runs.
Alexia Boring was 3-for-3 and scored two runs, and Grammerstorf scored three runs. Besides DiFabio, Burt and
Katie Maney each had two hits as part of a 13-hit attack.
Burt went the distance in the circle, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits, while walking two and striking out five.
"I thought Audrey throwing a complete game the first game of the season was really impressive," Van Wetzinga said. "She wasn't perfect, but she was consistent. She did a great job of bouncing back with outs when runners got on base, and we were able to avoid giving up big innings to their offense."
The Roadrunners are back in action Saturday, with games against Texas Woman's at 10 a.m. MST and Division II No. 3 Texas-Tyler at 2:30 p.m. MST.
"We want to see more consistency with quality at bats when we have runners on base," Van Wetzinga said. "Defensively, we need to limit the free bases and make teams earn their runs."
