The Mavericks take their first loss in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) tournament but bounce back loudly in the night cap.
In the first game on day three of the RMAC tournament it was a matchup tournament fans were anticipating as Colorado Mesa University (CMU) took on the University of Colorado- Colorado Springs (UCCS) Mountain Lions.
A pitchers duel was brought to the table as Jonathan Cowles and freshman left-handed pitcher Kannon Handy took the mound to begin the day. Both pitchers battled until the later innings when Handy gave up a single to Matt Berg in the sixth. UCCS went on to score three runs in that inning.
The Mountain Lions scored in the ninth, extending their lead as Matt McDermott doubled to score Nate Heflebower.
CMU’s only runs came back in the sixth as sophomore catcher Haydn McGeary doubled trading places with senior outfielder Tyler Parker giving the Mavericks a run.
Handy went eight and two third innings as he gave the ball to sophomore right handed pitcher Gage Edwards to close things out. Through his start for CMU, Handy had eight strikeouts, three earned runs and seven hits. He also gave up three free bags.
In game two the Mavericks would be the visiting team against Metro State University-Denver. The CMU bats got rolling early. But the real highlight of the game was the starting pitcher for CMU senior right-handed pitcher Trevin Reynolds.
Reynolds pitched a season high 11 strikeouts in the eight innings that he was able to throw Friday evening. Reynolds threw a shutout through seven innings and gave the run to MSUD in the eighth as Caleb Albaugh grounded out and Cody Schultz came around to score.
Reynolds pitched to McGeary as Bramwell would come in to play two outs at third later in the game.
“Everything was working pretty good tonight and I was just trying to command all pitches. McGeary is a great guy and catcher behind the plate glad he was back there,” Reynolds said.
The offense struck early as junior infielder Jordan Stubbings made it a 1-0 Maverick game as he singled allowing Parker to score. Stubbings continued to dominate in the RMAC tournament as he went 3-6 with four runs batted in (RBI) and scored once himself.
Another Maverick continuing to find their rhythm at the plate was McGeary as he hit his first home run in the tournament in the third inning. McGeary was not the only Maverick to hit a home run in the third as three batters later junior infielder Chase Hamilton would hit a home run of his own.
The Mavericks went on to score 13 runs on 15 hits with one error that was made by junior infielder Caleb Farmer.
A dicey ninth inning ment multiple pitching changes after Reynolds was pulled from the game after eight. Sophomore right handed pitcher Josh Danyliw faced three batters in the ninth inning and started with a single to right field for the roadrunners. Moyer then was hit by a pitch that would bring up Nelson, Nelson walked on a 3-1 count filling up the bases.
Another call to the bullpen was made and Brody McCord would come on to pitch and get one out from Cade Peters before Gonzales doubled scoring Moyer and Holinger who reached on a single.
With three runs on the board, head coach Chris Hanks made a call to third base and brought Farmer into pitch. Farmer was able to get out of the jam but still gave up a run on a wild pitch. Farmer clocked in at around 86 miles per hour.
“We are going to go out there and play our hearts out and leave it all out there and the games will go how they will go. We may win and we may lose but we will go out there and have a blast playing with our boys and enjoying playing home for the last time this season,” Stubbings said.
The Mavericks will move on to Saturday where they will once again face UCCS. If CMU wants to become tournament champions they are going to have to win two games against the Mountain Lions starting at 2 p.m on Suplizio Field.
