For the first time since 2002, the Colorado Mesa University (CMU) baseball team has lost a non-conference home series. The 12th ranked Mavericks dropped three games in a four game series against the 19th ranked Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) Nighthawks.
To start the season, the Mavericks scheduled tough games in Florida, and now in Grand Junction. The team is perennially one of the best in the nation, but this year, they have gotten off to a slow start with their sky-high expectations. CMU now sits at 6-6, with another tough two-game series in California ahead.
Game one against the Nighthawks was as crazy as a baseball game gets. NNU jumped out to a 14-0 lead by the 4th inning, hitting five home runs while their dugout was hoopin’ and hollerin’, leaving CMU fans shocked and speechless.
Maverick fans were confused , as suprisingly CMU’s star pitcher,Liam Hohenstein was the one who got rocked. Hohenstein was a pre-season All-American, and the 10 earned runs was by far the most the sophomore has ever given up.
“I think that was [Hohenstein’s 18th] outing of his career, he hasn’t had a bad one yet until yesterday. That was uncharacteristic of him. I think we’re fine with [Hohenstein],” head coach Chris Hanks said.
After the 14-0 hole, CMU began to try to do the unthinkable and comeback in the game. All of a sudden, the Mavs hit a grand-slam and scored three more runs in the bottom of the 4th. Then another home run in the 8th made it 14-12, and it was the Nighthawks who looked shook.
The Mavericks then had the winning run at the plate in the 9th, but the NNU closer got him to fly-out, grabbing the save for the Nighthawks.
NNU then took game two in the series 10-8 in a back and forth game. Both teams played well enough to win, but the Nighthawks had more clutch hits while playing clean baseball, which became a theme of the weekend. NNU only had two errors all weekend, while the Mavericks had eight. Last season CMU’s fielding percentage was 15th best in the country.
A silver lining of the loss and slow start to the season has been the play of the two freshman, infielder Joey Blank and outfielder Ethan Nunez. In the game the duo combined for three runs batted in (RBI) on four hits, including a home run from Nunez. Blank and Nunez also currently support the best batting averages on the team, with a .412 and .405 respectively.
The freshman has all but locked up a corner-outfielder spot, leading the team in hits, walks, doubles, and total bases while posting a .500 on-base-percentage.
\\ Jared Henderson for The Criterion
“I told the team in between games that the freshmen are carrying us. At what point is an upperclassman going to contribute and take charge, but we’re very pleased about them, [Blank and Nunez],” Hanks said.
The upperclassman took Hanks’ speech to heart, and turned in better performances the last two games, particularly in game three.
Junior pitcher Cole Seward got the ball and led the Mavs to the 2-1 win. Seward was great in his first two starts and was even better this weekend. The righty went all seven innings in the shortened double-header game, and the only run he gave up came from his own fielding error. Seward has been one of the best pitchers in the country, with a 1.56 earned run average (ERA) through three starts.
Seward wasn’t rewarded the win until the final inning, where two more upperclassmen stepped up. While Seward was dealing, the Nighthawks starter was just as good, maybe even better as he retired 17 batters in a row. However, with one out until extra-innings, junior catcher Declan Wiesner roped a double, and the winning run was in scoring position. Then, senior infielder Ethan Ezor went opposite field on the first pitch the next at-bat for the walk-off win.
“Big on Declan [Wiesner] to get on second base there and get a runner in scoring position, that’s what we needed. Skip [Coach Hanks] came up to me, you know, see something deep and shoot it the other way, work my oppo’ approach approach that I’ve been working on, and it paid off,” Ezor said.
The final game of the series went the Nighthawks way, winning 13-7. NNU had a pair of three run doubles late to take control of the game, but also, once again CMU was sloppy on defense committing four errors which proved to be their undoing.
In the loss, another upperclassman did step up. Junior outfielder Paul Schoenfeld returned from a three game absence to the nine-hole in the order. Batting last, Schoenfeld did everything he could, hitting for the cycle (a single, double, triple and home run in the same game). The cycle was the first in college baseball this season.
Now at 6-6, CMU is likely to fall steep or out of the national rankings, while NNU will likely be a top 10 team. The path doesn’t get any easier, as the team travels to play another perennially good opponent in Azusa Pacific University, out of California, just two days after the NNU series.
While Maverick fans may be shocked to see the baseball team with a 6-6 record, all six wins have come from high quality opponents, as well as the six losses. When RMAC play begins, expect the team to start stringng some wins together. Do not be surprised when they win the RMAC regular season for the 12th straight year and are suddenly right back as one of the nation’s best.
