Late-game comebacks are starting to become a habit for Colorado Mesa University at Suplizio Field.
Another come from behind victory came to fruition in late innings, and it was capped by Chase Hamilton’s walk-off single through the right side in the bottom of the 12th to hand the Mavericks an 8-7 victory over Montana State Billings University.
In the 12th, Spencer Bramwell hit a single up the middle with one out. Johnny Carr followed with a single of his own, and after a wild pitch and intentional walk, the stage was set for Hamilton. With two outs and the bases loaded, the infielder came up clutch to give CMU a reason to storm their way from the dugout toward their late-inning hero.
Thanks to Dominic DeMarco, the late-inning comeback was possible. The third baseman launched a game-tying two-run shot to right in the bottom of the ninth to knot the score at 7-7, his second home run in as many days.
Several Maverick players threw their hands in the air in the dugout as DeMarco made his way around the bases.
CMU found themselves down 4-0 through two innings but chipped away at the deficit as the game moved along. An RBI double from Caleb Farmer put Mesa on the board and Stubbings followed with an RBI single.
Later in the seventh, Hunter Douglas poked an RBI single through the right side to pull CMU within one. Two batters later, it was Stubbings again with a single, and shortly after, Douglas scored on a passed ball to knot the score at 5-5.
Josue Perez | The CriterionMatt Dillon hit his third home run of the series and second on the day to give MSU a 6-5 lead in the seventh. CMU righty walked Chris Arpan with the bases loaded to give the Yellowjackets their seventh run, but that was the last run they would push across.
Senior Will Dixon shut down MSU for the last four innings of play. The righty used his power stuff to register eight strikeouts, allowing no hits, and pick up his first win on the year.
AJ Landis had a solid 2019 debut but couldn’t duplicate that effort Saturday afternoon. The senior gave up 10 hits, five runs, and two walks in 5.0 innings.
A trio of two-out singles gave MSUB a 3-0 lead. Andrew Schleusner’s single up the middle scored Matt Dillon from second for the first run. Jalen Garcia followed with another RBI single to left to score Sam Powers and Arpan continued the rally with an RBI single through the left side of the infield.
After Conner Linebarger delivered an RBI single to right, Landis retired Blake Bell to stop the damage.
Steen Frederickson limited CMU through five innings before he found trouble in the sixth, but finished with a quality line of 5.6 innings, six hits, three runs, and six strikeouts.
The damage in the 8th could have been worse for CMU on the pitching side. Andrew Morris gave up the leadoff homer and loaded the bases with no outs. Luckily for Morris, his best stuff came at the right time as the righty blew three fastballs past Schleusner. Jalen Garcia hit a pop up that tailed towards MSU’s dugouts, but Stubbings positioned himself perfectly to secure the pop out.
After the walk to Arpan, Conner Linebarger struck out swinging on a 2-2 fastball to end the threat.
CMU had 16 hits while MSU had 13. The Yellowjackets were the strikeout victims in this one as they whiffed 14 times.
Carr and Stubbings finished 3 for 4 on the day while DeMarco was 1 for 4 with a HR and two RBIs.
Garcia was 4 for 7 for MSU and Dillon scorched two home runs for a 3 for 6 line with two RBIs.
