The Mavericks continued to stay strong at the plate while sophomore right-handed pitcher Andrew Morris dominated on the mound.
After giving up two hits in to the first two batters Colorado Christian University (CCU) sent to face Morris, he then struck out the next three batters.
“We knew that they were going to come out swinging the bats and be aggressive and if you want to avoid striking out a strategy is to swing early in counts. Put the ball in play, take your chance they had a couple of soft hits fall. But then Andrew got tough after the runners got on,” Head Coach Chris Hanks said.
Morris gave up only a walk on the day in the seventh inning to Jordan Medina who would eventually stay stranded on the base paths. Morris continued to dominate the strike zone as he struck out 12 batters. He also threw 91 strikes out of the 121 pitches thrown on the day.
With the 12 strikeouts Morris had Wednesday afternoon, he now has seven appearances this season where he was able to strike out ten or more batters.
He was able to make the batters swing early in the count allowing for 11 swinging strikeouts and one looking strikeout from Connor Marschall. Marschall struck out four times against Morris.
“It was nice to face them again. I kind of knew what the bats were. It was good, trying to keep the same mindset from last game and just slow myself down and I knew what to expect so it definitely helped,” Morris said.
He has been able to make adjustments in the pitches thrown with help from junior catcher Spencer Bramwell. He said that he knows that he is able to make those adjustments throughout the game if needed.
“It has definitely helped having him back there. He gives me little tips and pointers as we are going. I feel like I have always been good at making the adjustments that I need to as the game goes on,” Morris said.
Morris had a nice cushion to work with as the Colorado Mesa University offense put up 15 runs in the game. They scored eighth of their runs in the first four innings.
CMU did not have a hit until the second inning yet scored two runs off of walks in the first.
Junior outfielder Matt Turner got things going for CMU in the second as he found his first hit of the day with a single to left field. The play allowed sophomore Tanner Garner to score. Turner went 2-4 on the day with two runs batted in (RBI) and three runs scored himself.
Continuing to be a power bat for CMU, sophomore designated hitter Haydn McGeary. Doubled his second time at the plate and scored two for CMU. McGeary ended the day leading CMU in hits for the game against CCU with three.
Freshman infielder Harrison Rodgers hit a long fly ball over the field fence to give the Mavericks a 9-0 lead in the fifth inning. Junior infielder Jordan Stubbings made good contact with the ball multiple times as he was able to drive in four runs and scored once himself.
The Mavericks defense struggled to control the ball in the infield as they had four errors throughout the game.
After Morris came out of the game after the seventh inning, freshman right-handed pitcher Jacob Rhodes was only able to pitch two third innings as he gave up four hits and five runs. Out of the five runs he gave up, only two of those were earned.
Having to look further into their bullpen, CMU went to senior left-handed pitcher Austin Lorenz. After the game, Hanks talked about how Lorenz has been resilient throughout the year. He only gave up one hit and walked one throughout his one and one innings pitched.
After the 15-7 win against CCU, CMU will face the loser of Regis University and University of Colorado- Colorado Springs at 2 p.m.
