As much as we think the best teams in the nation have the best armor, there’s going to be times when the opposition puts dents in their shields.
Colorado Mesa University, the nation’s No. 2 team, suffered their worst loss of the season Friday night. A mid-game collapse by the defense and bullpen handed CMU their first two-game losing streak of the season as CSU-Pueblo rallied to capture game one of a four-game series 15-8.
With the score at 7-6 and CMU down just a run in the bottom half of the seventh, Daniel Abiles started the inning off with a single and reached third on a throwing error by third baseman Will Dixon. After CMU reliever Ryan Overboe hit Gilbert Sauceda with a pitch, Frankie Fitzgerald came in with runners on first and third.
The floodgates opened. Dakota Popham laced a two-run double to right-center and put the Thunderwolves up by three. Ryan Espinosa followed with an RBI single and after another hit by pitch and catcher’s interference, Aidan Welch made the Maverick defense pay with a three-run triple to right field, giving CSU-Pueblo a commanding 13-6 lead that all but sealed the victory.
Senior JR McDermott broke his streak of eight straight quality performances with a clunker against a Thunderwolve lineup that came into the contest hitting .310 as a team and fourth in the RMAC in runs scored. McDermott gave up two runs in the first after another error by Dixon and found more trouble in the fourth after a pair of singles.
The right-hander gave up five runs (four earned) on five hits and just one walk. He didn’t receive much help from the defense in just four innings of work and didn’t strike out a single hitter, both season lows.
AJ Landis struggled to start the sixth. Popham started the inning with a single and Espinosa followed with an RBI double. Welch brought Espinosa around the score with a single to give the Thunderwolves a 7-6 advantage.
Overboe and Fitzgerald combined to give up six runs on just three hits. Four errors by CMU didn’t help the bullpen in tight situations, and the blunders were the most the team has committed in a game this season.
CMU did their best to hang around through the first five innings. Trevin Reynolds started the scoring with an RBI single in the first and Jordan Stubbings added one of his own in the third.
The Mavericks gained a 5-3 lead in the fourth after Caleb Farmer brought Chase Hamilton home with an RBI single and Josh Shapiro scored on an error by Jesse Holguin.
That wasn’t enough on an uncharacteristic day for a CMU team that relies on playing strong defense. It’s a reason why, no matter how great the Mavericks may look one game or on one of their winning streaks, Head Coach Chris Hanks preaches Mesa still has a ways to go before they are playing their best ball.
The 15 runs were the most the Mavericks have given up this season and just the fifth time the pitching staff surrendered double-digit runs.
CSU-Pueblo starter Beau Briskie gave up 10 hits and six runs on the evening but survived through six to pick up his fourth win on the year. Justin Jaime pitched the seventh, eighth, and ninth, allowing four hits, two runs (none earned) to pick up his first save.
