DENVER – The MSU Denver baseball team played one of the wildest games in program history Thursday.
It didn't end until Friday.
The Roadrunners' game at Regis was suspended after eight innings due to darkness with MSU Denver leading 27-20 Thursday night. The final inning was played Friday morning, and MSU Denver survived 27-21.
That's right, 27-21. It was the highest-scoring game in program history.
Tanner Garner set the program's single-game record with nine RBIs, surpassing the mark of eight reached four times previously, most recently by Logan Soole on March 1, 2019. Garner also had five hits, one short of tying the school record. Nine RBIs tied the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference record that had been achieved three times previously.
In one of the most bizarre sequences in program history, MSU Denver led 10-3 before giving up 10 runs in the bottom of the third. Undaunted, the Roadrunners bounced back for 15 runs – that's right, 15 – in the top of the fourth to lead 25-13.
"That was about the most impressive thing I've ever seen," MSU Denver coach
Ryan Strain said. "To give up a 10-spot, and the lead, and turn right back around and punch in the mouth with 15 runs? Our guys have a lot of confidence in themselves and we have a lot of good players, but that was pretty darn impressive."
The 15 runs, while astounding, is still five short of the program record for a single inning. That 20-run inning was part of a school-record 34 runs that MSU Denver scored on March 5, 2010, against Colorado Christian.
That game had been the previous highest-scoring game in program history: the final was 34-12.
The Roadrunners also had a school record 32 hits, 32 RBIs and 12 doubles in that game.
They had 24 hits, seven doubles, and 26 RBIs in the Thursday-Friday win.
Garner was 5-for-7 with two doubles and a homer, while
Caleb Albaugh was 4-for-4.
Cody Schultz scored five runs and drove in three while banging a pair of doubles, and
Colin Stone was 3-for-5 with a homer.
Brady McLean (3-0) picked up the win in relief, allowing four runs (three earned) while striking out three in 2 2/3 innings.
The teams are set to play their regularly-scheduled doubleheader at noon Friday.