GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – After a gut punch of an opening game, the 13^th- and 27^th-ranked MSU Denver baseball team got up off the canvas a fought back Sunday, earning a doubleheader split with perennial league power Colorado Mesa.
 
The Roadrunners were unable to hold on to the first game after losing two three-run leads and another two-run advantage, falling in the eighth inning 11-9 on a walkoff homer. But Cody Schultz led off the second game with the first of his two home runs, and MSU Denver earned a 6-2 victory.
 
"I'm proud of the boys," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "The first was one was a heartbreaker. I told them after the second game that that was a big-boy win."
 
Colin Stone also homered for the Roadrunners, making it 5-0 in the fourth.
 
And, after Carson Brown (1-1) surrendered a homer in the bottom of the fourth in a strong four-inning start, reliever Gabe Austin delivered the outing of his career, striking out seven in a three-inning save in which he allowed only one hit, a solo homer in the sixth.
 
"Gaber was great," Strain said. "His changeup was filthy, as good as I've ever seen it. We've been preaching to our guys that you've got to have that pitch, and if you do, it's such a difference-maker. Mesa is a fastball-hitting team – they hunt fastballs – and if you've got a little wrinkle, something else to show them, you can give them a little trouble."
 
Schultz continues to give Mesa trouble – he's 8-for-13 in the series with two doubles, three homers, five RBIs and two stolen bases.
 
He homered on the fifth pitch of the second game to immediately switch momentum back to the Roadrunners.
 
"That was huge," Strain said. "It got us going again."
 
The Roadrunners had momentum in the first game, taking a 3-0 lead after 2 ½ innings and – after the Mavericks tied it – 6-3 following a three-run homer by Zach Paschke.
 
But, after a 45-minute rain delay, Mesa came back to tie it 6-6.
 
A two-run double by Schultz in the top of the fifth put MSU Denver up, but Mesa got a run in the bottom of the fifth to close within 8-7.
 
MSU Denver pushed another run across in the top of the seventh of the seven-inning game, but Mesa produced a two-run single off closer Eric Cox, snapping his streak of 10 consecutive save conversions dating back nearly a year.
 
Forced to go extra innings, Mesa hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to end it.
 
"Obviously they have a quality team," Strain said. "They've been playing good teams and a lot of those have been on the road. Playing here is hard – Mesa is always good here, they believe in themselves, and they always have a good crowd behind them.
 
"It's tough to win here. I'm glad we got one todaym and I would've loved to have won two."
 
The series concludes with a single game Monday at 1 p.m.