GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – MSU Denver erased an early five-run deficit but couldn't overcome it when falling behind by that margin again and dropped a 16-7 decision Wednesday against Regis in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament.
The fifth-seeded Roadrunners will try to keep their season alive in an 11 a.m. elimination game Thursday against sixth-seeded CSU Pueblo.
"This is it, especially for the seniors," MSU Denver coach
Ryan Strain said. "They've got one game left, and if they want to play more than that, they're going to have to fight hard. But I feel good about it. Our guys will bounce back – it's been one of those years where they've had to. They're battle-tested.
"We've got guys who have been on some teams that have played really well, played in regional tournaments, and they have pride. They'll play hard tomorrow. We just need to play better."
MSU Denver trailed 4-0 after one inning and 7-2 after two, but rallied for four runs in the third and another in the top of the fourth to tie the game 7-7.
But Regis answered with five in the bottom of the fourth, then added one in the fifth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth while keeping the Roadrunners at bay.
"We've got to get the ball down and give ourselves a chance, and then we've got to make plays – that was part of the problem tonight," Strain said. "We gave up a lot of hits, but we also had chances to make plays that we didn't make.
"And every time we didn't make a play, they punished us and scored more runs. We're going to have to pitch better, make more plays, and offensively we're going to have to swing the bats for all nine innings."
A three-run homer by
Hayes Edens keyed MSU Denver's four-run third inning, pulling the Roadrunners within 7-6.
And
Caleb Albaugh's RBI single in the fourth tied it.
Edens lined out as MSU Denver left the bases loaded in the fourth, but then the Roadrunners managed just one hit the rest of the game.
"That's kind of where the game changed," Strain said. "They did a nice job of getting guys on base and scored five runs, and we couldn't get anything going after that."
Gavin Schmeh and
Jake Williams each had two of the Roadrunners' 10 hits.
Andrew Biddle's two-run double gave the Roadrunners their first runs of the game.