Through two days of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament, the Mavericks are 1-1 as they won their opening game to the Mountain Lions but dropped their game Thursday to the Thunderwolves.
In the final game of play on Wednesday, Colorado Mesa University (CMU) was down 5-7 going into the bottom half of the ninth inning and with senior infielder Caleb Farmer on third, junior infielder Conrad Villafuerte hit a sacrifice fly tying the game at six apiece.
Junior outfielder Julian Boyd then singled down the left field line allowing the Mavericks to get the walk off victory. Boyd came in during the seventh inning and made an impact as he went 2-2 with two RBIs.
“ The only thing on my mind was just to compete for the team. Everything I do is for the team so I just wanted to compete hard for my teammates and I put the bat on the ball and got the result.
Boyd also made one of the best defensive plays of the game as he threw a rocket to get Pastorello out at home. The throw came after a single from Macully Sehr but ended the inning allowing the Mavericks to have one final chance at the plate.
“We put in a lot of work as outfielders as a collective with our throwing so it was the benefits of hard work. I made that throw too many times even more just from practice so hard work,” Boyd said.
Junior designated hitter Haydn McGeary hit a two run home run in the fourth scoring sophomore infielder Harrison Rodgers as well.
In the Mavericks game against the Thunderwolves of Colorado State University- Pueblo (CSUP) on Thursday, CSUP was able to get the 5-6 victory.
In the first inning senior infielder Spencer Bramwell doubled scoring Farmer and the Mavericks were back in action as CSUP scored in the top half of the inning.
The Mavericks then put up four runs in the third as they were able to get back to back to back home runs out of the middle part of their lineup as McGeary hit a homerun that was able to score Farmer as well. Then Bramwell came up and hit a monster home run of his own to center field. Villafuerte then got in on the action as he hit another home run for the team.
“ That was definitely a big lift but that is hard to do over and over again. We got a little long, a little big so we just have to adjust that for tomorrow,” Bramwell said.
CMU has seen great starts from their pitchers the past few games as they have turned to their two left handed starters in Kannon Handy and Ryan Day to start off the tournament.
Handy got the start against UCCS and pitched a solid five and one third innings before handing the ball off to the Mavericks bullpen who did a solid job in shutting down a tough Mountain Lions offense. Through his outing, Handy struck out five while only giving up nine hits and five runs.
Junior right handed pitcher Gage Edwards then did what he needed to do as the middle man in the Mavericks bullpen as he only went one inning and gave up three hits and one run. Sophomore right handed pitcher Cooper Vasquez had his best outing of the season as he was put into the late inning guy spot for the Mavericks. Vazquez only gave up two hits while striking out six.
“I knew we were going to come back so I tried to keep us in the game as much as possible I knew if we were putting up zeros we were going to win that game no matter what,” Vasquez said
In the Mavericks second game of the tournament, Day got handed the ball and had a solid appearance. He went seven and one inning. He only had two miss locations that unfortunately ended up helping the Thunderwolves but other than that Day was on target.
“ He choked a fastball and hung a curveball maybe just right down the middle so you can’t do that and we should have battled back for him but we can’t get that timely hit,” Bramwell said.
The Mavericks will now face Colorado School of Mines Orediggers in the 11 a.m. game on Friday May 13. The winner of that game will play again against Metro State University- Denver in the night cap at 7 p.m. For more information on the rest of the tournament visit the RMAC website.
