Mesa State got their first crack at avenging their Regionals loss to New Mexico Highlands this weekend at Suplizio Field. It may only be early April baseball, but the Mavs have not forgotten what the Cowboys did to them last spring.
Friday night started exactly how they wanted it with a dominating 7-1 victory. The Mavs jumped out early to a 3-0 lead after the first inning. Brian Bello’s second home run of the season in the fourth inning gave the Mavs a 6-0 lead. Jeff Popick’s RBI single gave the team the insurance run and the easy victory. Nolan Snell pitched seven innings giving up just one run on seven hits and eight strike outs.
Saturday’s first game was close throughout, but the Cowboys snuck by the Mavs with a 4-3 win. Popick,  Colton Schoelkopf and Ken Evanson all drove in a run in the fourth inning to take a 3-0 lead, but Jared Christiansen gave up four runs in the sixth to give New Mexico Highlands the lead and the eventual win.
The Mavs got payback just hours later, however, when they scored six runs in the third inning of game two. Greg Anderson hit his third home run of the season as the team got seven hits that inning. Dylan Evans pitched a complete game and gave up only five runs with six strike outs.
After a two hour delay because of weather, the Mavs finally got to play ball at Suplizio. The weather delay wasn’t going to change the Mavs game plan too much.
“A rain delay has an effect on everybody pretty much,” Colton Little said. “It’s more of the bored factor and then having to get loose again. We’ve been playing for years and we’ve gone through this a lot so I think it’s all mental at this point.”
In his first career start, Tyler Ehlers gave up a home run to the first batter of the game, but that was his lone mistake until the sixth inning when he gave up and RBI double Ehlers went six innings giving up just two runs on seven hits and four strike outs.
“I tried not to let that first batter affect me too much and just turn the next page and move on,” Ehlers said. “It was huge to get this win over them. I loved my first start. Great stadium and great atmosphere. Even inclement weather made it a lot of fun.”
The Maverick offense didn’t help him out with all their missed opportunities. With the bases loaded in the third inning and just one out, the Mavs couldn’t bring any one home. After a leadoff double in the fourth, the Mavs failed to score again, this time with the help of the home plate umpire making a questionable “out” call at home to keep the game 1-0.
“Their starting lefty was pretty chippy with his curveball,” Little said. “He mixed in his pitches very well. We just couldn’t get the two out hits that we needed.”
The Mavs left 10 men on base through five innings.
The bats finally woke up in the eighth as they scored six runs. Popick’s two-RBI single gave the Mavs the lead. No one on the team had more than one RBI. Anderson, Popick and Schoelkopf each brought in a run on three straight at-bats in the eighth.
“Their first kid was real effective, but fortunately so were our guys,” coach Chris Hanks said. “We left runners all over the place in the first five innings, but we scored late and got the win.”
The Mavs play in a crucial series this weekend as they travel to Kearney to take on Nebraska-Kearney. The Lopers lead the conference, but a sweep could move the Mavs ahead of them.
“If we can be offensive then we can be very tough because we are pitching it well and playing good defense,” Hanks said. “The offense has been down the past couple of weeks, but that’s a contagious deal. Hopefully we can get contagious and go into a tough series against Kearney.”
The Mavs return home April 15 against Colorado Christian in their Relay for Life game.

ahimes@mesastate.edu