The bases were filled with Mavericks under the lights on Thursday night when sophomore Harrison Rodgers raced home in the bottom half of ninth as the Thunderwolves pitcher over threw the ball and the Mavericks walked it off.
In the first game under the stadium’s new lights the lights flashed as the team jumped and celebrated around the field in excitement.
“That was electric. Whoever’s on cue did a FANTASTIC job, that was probably the highlight of the night,” Rodgers said.
After sophomore infielder Ethan Ezor wanted to slash, showing bunt and then pulling the bat back to swing, the ball went foul all Rodgers wanted to do was steal home. In the end, Rodgers was able to get the job done and the MAvericks were up in the series 1-0 after pulling off the 5-4 victory.
After Thursday’s walk-off win, Head Coach Chris Hanks talked about how hopefully the team can get on track and be where they want to be heading into the regular season but he knows that you can’t win them all.
“ I just hope this helps the fog lift a little bit because we’ve been in a fog. We’ve just got to grind it out. You can’t play 50-plus games and expect to win every game and be sharp every game,” Hanks said.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) kept the party going into Friday as they played a doubleheader against Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSUP).
The Mavericks went to extra innings again but were able to pull off another 5-4 victory as junior outfielder Conrad Villafuerte came in to pinch hit and hit a solo home run to walk it off.
Seniors Johnny Carr and Spencer Bramwell as well as junior Julian Boyd all had two hit games for the Mavericks.
Senior left-handed pitcher Ryan Day pitched a gem as he went all eight innings and earned his fifth win of the season. He was able to strike out 13 batters only giving up two walks. The 13 strikeouts was a season high for the Prosper, Texas native.
In the nightcap on Friday, the Mavericks offense was on right out of the gate as they swept the doubleheader. Going into this weekend’s series, the Mavericks needed to win three to claim their tenth consecutive regular season title. The 9-5 win did just that for the team.
Not only were fans able to enjoy the fireworks after the game was complete,the Mavericks offense gave the fans a great offensive showing throughout the night.
With junior designated hitter Haydn McGeary back in the lineup after not being able to play in the first two games of the series, McGeary hit a two run home run allowing Rodgers to score getting the Mavericks on the board first.
The home run would tie McGeary for the single season home run record.
Not to outdo himself, McGeary hit another two run homerun in the third scoring Rodgers yet again. The junior now holds the record for homeruns in a single season with 26. He also holds the all time home run record with 66 home runs.
Bramwell and senior infielder Caleb Farmer both hit home runs of their own as Bramwell hit a solo home run in the third and Farmer hit a three run home run in the fourth.
The three who hit homeruns for the Mavericks were the only Mavericks to have multi hit games in the night game.
The Mavericks celebrated senior day on Saturday as they closed out the regular season with a 10-7 win against CSUP. The seniors that were celebrated have helped the team win 180 games and have won over 81 percent of their games during their careers at CMU.
Carr and Farmer both had two RBIs for CMU as they helped the Mavericks get the comeback victory. CMU was down 0-4 heading into the bottom half of the third inning as the Thunderwolves benefitted from big hits from Ty Lewis and Reggie Williams in the early innings.
Farmer hit his 23 home run on the season, which was a solo shot to left center field.
Heading into the bottom half of the sixth inning the game was tied at six but the double steal gave the Mavericks the lead. Sophomore infielder Jonathan Gonzalez stole home as senior outfielder Matthew Turner stole second.
The Mavericks finished the regular season 36-12 with a conference record of 23-9. As the regular season comes to a close many Mavericks made their mark on the program this season as they climbed the career charts.
McGeary leads the program in home runs, slugging percentage, RBIs and batting average in the career record books. Farmer leads the program in runs and is second in doubles. Senior infielder Jordan Stubbings and Farmer are first and second respectively in most at bats throughout their five years in a Mavericks jersey.
CMU will host the RMAC tournament beginning May 11. The Mavericks will compete in the first round in a rematch of last season’s RMAC championship game. The Mavericks and Mountain Lions will compete under the lights on May 11 at Bergman Field starting at 7 p.m.
