The Mavericks went into Saturday’s matchup against Colorado School of Mines in danger of possibly falling three or four games back for the conference lead.
Colorado Mesa University put those worries to rest with a two game sweep, defeating the Orediggers 11-6 in game one and a 7-6 come from behind victory in game two.
The Mavericks had two big innings, scoring four in the second and six in the fifth. CMU had back-to-back home runs to lead off the second. Tyler Sandoval belted a deep shot to center field and JJ Carr followed with a solo blast to left. Johnny Carr singled and advanced to second to put runners on second and third. Jordan Stubbings singled through the left side, scoring John Ballard, and Tanner Rempel reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Carr.
Reagan Todd had a quality start on the bump for CMU. He pitched six innings and allowed three runs on three hits. He struggled with command walking five, but struck out six and worked himself out of danger in multiple innings.
Todd moved to 3-1 with a 3.43 earned run average.
The Mavericks went through the batting order in the fifth. Zach McLeod started the inning with a leadoff walk. Three batters later, John Ballard doubled to score two. Hunter Douglas added an RBI single, and Stubbings stroked an RBI double to left. Garrett Ball’s RBI single made it 10-1 Mavericks.
Trevor Kehe homered for the second straight game for the Orediggers, belting a three run shot off Will Dixon in the bottom of the seventh. Dixon settled in, finishing the game off by getting Jared Rodriguez to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.
The Mavericks found themselves behind 6-0 in the second game. Kehe belted another home run, his third of the series, and Matt Gangwish followed Kehe with a solo shot to right.
Left hander Chris Ramirez found more trouble against Mines in the fourth. A wild pitch allowed Daniel Ciraula to score. Jace Selsor hit a sacrifice fly that scored Kehe, and another wild pitch scored Gangwish to put the Mavericks in a deep 6-0 hole.
CMU answered quickly in the top of the fifth. Ballard reached on a fielding error by third baseman Derek Daly. Stubbings made the error hurt later in the inning, belting his seventh home run on the season to deep center field to cut the deficit to 6-2.
Ball homered to open the sixth for CMU. Hunter Douglas reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. The Mavericks couldn’t have asked for a better hitter at the plate in this situation.
Their hottest hitter Stubbings stepped to the plate and delivered once again. Stubbings took a 1-0 pitch to deep right center, clearing the bases and the Mavericks took a 7-6 lead. Stubbings is now 8-for-13 with two home runs and 11 RBIs in the series.
The bullpen for the Mavericks locked it down. Tanner Herdt was the first in relief of Ramirez, and he picked up the win after limiting the Orediggers to two hits in 1 and ⅔ innings. AJ Landis and Nick Borowski pitched ⅔ innings apiece, with Borowski securing the save, his first on the season.
CMU now finds themselves in a first place tie with Mines for the RMAC lead and have the series lead 2-1. Sunday’s matchup will determine who escapes the series with the conference lead. First pitch is at 12 p.m.
