Another brisk night at Suplizio Field turned into a Colorado Mesa University win Friday night. The offense pounded 10 hits while AJ Landis pitched seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts in the 12-0 victory over Adams State University (7-28).
The Mavericks had to settle for a four-game split last weekend against RMAC opponent CSU-Pueblo. CMU knows they have a target on their back, so it’s telling when they see teams celebrate a little extra during regular-season play.
“I think it means our program is in a good place,” CMU coach Chris Hanks said during Tuesday’s media scrum. “People are gunning for us. They’re trying to measure themselves against us.
And we’re like any other team. We’re not going to always be our best every game out or every weekend out. But I do believe we’ve been consistent. We’ve been able to combat that as the better and better as the year’s rolled on.”
Tonight, it was CMU who chased Adams State’s arms out of the ballgame. Chase Hamilton opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly that scored Dominic DeMarco who led of the inning with a double. DeMarco finished 3-for-3 with three doubles and an RBI. He’s arguably been Mesa’s best hitter so far and is on a seven-game hit streak, a 14-for-25 stretch with 12 RBIs.
The Mavericks secured a 5-0 lead through three, but it wasn’t a string of hits that pushed them to an early lead. Adams State starter Kolton Bleggi struggled with command with walks and wild pitches, which chased him from the game in the bottom of the fourth after two walks and a double. He threw 78 pitches, 38 of them strikes, for a below average strikes thrown mark of 48%.
CMU starter Landis fared much differently than Bleggi. The senior located his off-speed, fooled several Grizzly hitters and improved as the game went along, flashing his best stuff in the fourth when he faced the top of Adam’s lineup and struck out the side. The Grizzlies lone hit off Landis came in the second off a leadoff single from Jared Gay. The right-hander retired the next 15 batters.
The outing was much needed for Landis after an up-and-down season to this point. His earned run average was above five before the game but now sits at 4.26 as he’s allowed just three runs in his last 12 innings of work.
Haydn McGeary, CMU’s standout freshman, added to the Mavericks lead with a two-run double to left center in the fourth. After Jordan Stubbing’s impact year as a freshman, McGeary is following suit with a productive season of his own, forcing good lineup issues for Hanks.
“We knew both of them were going to be good hitters coming into our program, that’s why we recruited them,” Hanks said earlier in the week. “We need them both in the lineup, and then you get in the issue of ‘how do you do that on a regular basis’ because they both play first base and they can both DH.”
McGeary currently sports a nine-game hitting streak and has gone on a 17-for-33 (.515) stretch, including seven multi-hit games during the streak. He’s second on the team in home runs with six and leads the Mavericks with a .397 batting average.
The Grizzlies didn’t register there first scoreless inning until the sixth. Chance Strand allowed a walk but escaped unscathed, a far cry from the first five innings of the contest where Bleggi and Dominic Lomeli combined to surrender nine runs.
CMU right-hander Nick Cardinale pitched a scoreless eighth and escaped a bases-loaded jam to keep the shutout intact. Jahred Butler came in for the ninth and allowed the only other hit in the game for Adams State, a one-out double to Cameron Brosh before finishing off the shutout.
