Tempers flared as Metro State University- Denver (MSUD) celebrated defeating the Mavericks in the championship game 5-8 at The Diamond at the Bergman Sports Complex.
As the Roadrunners closer Eric Cox got help from his defense getting the last out in the bottom half of the ninth inning, his teammates ran to the pitcher’s mound to celebrate then things got a little chippy.
Players from the Roadrunners started to throw equipment at the Mavericks players standing by the dugout.
As coaches went to shake hands, words were said that caused a spark and the tension that fans saw over the whole contest and from the night before as well came to light. Coaches and players had to be separated by administration before everyone just headed back towards their respective dugouts.
Moments after Head Coach Chris Hanks walked back to the dugout and just smirked in the crowds direction and then discussed what happened post game.
“They have a little trouble with class. I will just say it, there’s a lot of transfers over there. It’s just not a classy operation but they can run their program how they run it. We are not going to run ours like that. Never had we won 10 straight conference championships and when you see a celebration like that on the field you understand a program that has never won anything,” Hanks said.
The Roadrunners got on the board first as Cam Yuran hit a solo home run off of Colorado Mesa University (CMU) starter right handed junior Blake Rohm. Rohm went two innings as the Mavericks relied on their bullpen throughout the game.
Caleb Albaugh hit a sacrifice fly to right field off of the Mavericks third pitcher of the game, left handed pitcher Austin Lorenz. The out scored Tanner Garner on the play.
The Mavericks had a huge third inning as they scored four runs in the inning. Senior infielder Caleb Farmer continued to have a successful tournament as he hit a two run home run to put the Mavericks on the board and tie the game.
Senior outfielder Matthew Turner then grounded out to the shortstop but the play was back far enough that junior designated hitter Haydn McGeary was able to cross home plate and put his team on top. With senior infielder Spencer Bramwell on base, senior infielder Jordan Stubbings doubled allowing Bramwell to get home in ease.
Zachary Schular answered to the Mavericks four run third inning with a two run home run that tied the game. MSUD continued to score as Bill Ralston singled to right field, scoring Colin Stone.
Bramwell came up to the plate and hit a rocket of a home run to center field on a 2-0 count.
The Roadrunners were able to take advantage of late errors by Farmer and sophomore infielder Harrison Rodgers to get the 5-8 victory.
Rodgers caught a ball off the edge of the grass that he could not get a clean grip on that gave the Roadrunners a one run lead. Farmer then misplayed a ball that allowed tw to score in the seventh.
“Things just didn’t tip our way. The ball hit the lip Harry is cutting down the thing and that gave them the one run lead. Ya know its baseball stuff. Metro played better than us today so congratulations to them,” Hanks said.
Rodgers finished the game going 3-5 with two doubles while Stubbings went 3-4 with one RBI.
The Mavericks relied on their bullpen to get them through the game and saw some bright spots in their younger relief pitchers. Freshman right handed pitcher Cole Seward was the fourth pitcher to come into the game for the Mavericks and ended up with the loss but had a pretty solid appearance.
“Cole did great, we probably didn’t pitch him enough this year. We probably spent too much time with some upperclassman that we kept thinking would figure things out and clear to the end they didn’t so that is a coaching mistake and so moving forward to the regional we will probably have a little bit of youth movement on the mound,” Hanks said.
Hanks then turned to sophomore right handed pitcher Cooper Vasquez who was solid all throughout the tournament for the Mavericks. He went two and one third while striking out three.
The Mavericks had three selections to the All-tournament team in McGeary, Farmer and Rodgers.
Even though the team did not win the automatic bid into the NCAA South Central Regional tournament there is no doubt that the Mavericks will be playing next weekend.
CMU will host half of the regional tournament while Angelo State University will host the other half. The Mavericks will play the winner of West Texas A&M and St.Edwards.
