It’s been a long road stretch for the Colorado Mesa University baseball team. The Mavericks haven’t been able to enjoy the friendly confines of Suplizio Field in a month.
CMU was back home Friday night, and the Mavericks celebrated their return with a win over Regis University. Kyle Leahy pitched his second complete game of the season to seal the win.
Leahy was coming off the worst outing of the season and first loss of his CMU career. The right-hander gave up 11 runs on 13 hits, both career highs, to Colorado School of Mines on Apri 8 that ballooned his earned run average (era) to 4.76. Friday’s performance was Leahy pitching like an ace, finding ways to limit runners and blow his fastball past the Rangers hard-fought lineup.
With two outs, Garrett Skillings put the Rangers on the board first with a slow ground ball to second baseman JJ Carr with the bases loaded.
Both pitchers were in control early on in the contest. Leahy labored in the third inning with Regis forcing him to make quality pitches, but he was able to escape the third only allowing a run on a soft grounder to second. Carr fired his throw home when the runner rounded third and cut him down to secure the final out of the inning.
Brad Thoutt kept CMU off balance, working both sides off the plate with his offspeed pitches. Thoutt struck out 12 CMU batters but walked five. The Maverick hitters were struggling to string together rallies but capitalized on opportunities that were presented in the fourth and sixth innings. Jordan Stubbings walked with one out in the fourth. Carr singled to center which moved Stubbings to third, and Zach McLeod hit a towering RBI double down the left field line that allowed Stubbings to score and knot the score at 1-1.
Carr performed on the offensive side too and went 2-for-4 on the night. In the bottom of the eighth, he cracked a liner to right field for an RBI single, his team-leading 24th RBI, that gave the Mavericks a 2-1 lead. The right fielder Connor Rochon mishandled the ball, allowing Dominic DeMarco to round third without hesitation and score.
Leahy surrendered a two-out single in the 8th, but struck out Connor Rochon in a 3-2 count and pumped his fist as he walked back towards the dugout. He finished the brisk night with seven strikeouts, one run on six hits and two walks, lowering his ERA to 4.20 with a 5-1 record.
The Mavericks improved to 24-10 and 15-6 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday with the first game starting at 1 p.m.
