GRAND JUNCTON, Colo. – Adams State Baseball and Colorado Mesa Mavericks were back at it today as they battled in a double header. Adams State (7-30, 4-19 RMAC) were looking to get back into the series after being shutout in Friday's opener. Colorado Mesa (30-7, 18-5 RMAC) were planning on keeping the momentum going.
Adams State was able to get off to a much better start in this game as in the first inning,
Nico Nintze crushed a home run to right field to get the Grizzlies on the board early, Adams State got two more runners on but were not able to extend the lead as they ended the inning up 1-0.
Colorado Mesa went three up three down in the first inning, the second inning though was when Colorado Mesa got on the board, Spencer Bramwell singled through the left side driving in the first run of the game for the Mavericks, Tanner Garner then doubled to left center bringing in two more runs and Josh Shapiro doubled to right field bringing in the fourth run of the inning.
The two teams stayed deadlocked through the next couple of innings with both teams unable to drive in another run. Colorado Mesa scored four more runs in the bottom of the fourth though. The scoring started with a Chase Hamilton double down the left field line brining in two runs, Jordan Stubbings then singled to left field and Caleb Farmer singled to right field bringing the seventh and eighth runs of the game for the Mavericks.
Adams State got another run in the fifth inning,
Orlando Romero singled through the right side to bring home
Logan Bistrup who had reached on an error the batter before. That was all the offense that the Grizzlies were able to muster as a promising inning was cut short by a groundout and a caught stealing.
Adams State kept the momentum going into the sixth inning,
Patrick Huffaker got into the second pitch he saw in the at-bat at drove the ball over the left field fence for his first home run of the season.
Erik Hildebrandt continued the scoring three batters later with a RBI single up the middle. Once again Adams State was not able keep the offense going and the two runs were all that they could score in the sixth.
Colorado Mesa increased their lead in the bottom of the sixth, Caleb Farmer singled through the right side and Spencer Bramwell had a two RBI double to left field and bringing the score to 11-4 in favor of Colorado Mesa.
That would be the final score as Colorado Mesa won game two of the series by a final score of 11-4.
Nico Nintze and
Patrick Huffaker both hit home runs for the Grizzlies, and
Erik Hildebrandt and
Orlando Romero both drove in runs as well.
Logan Bistrup and
Tyler Erzen had success on the base paths with each of them stealing a base.
Daniel Brennan started the game and pitched 3.2 innings with two strikeouts,
Trent Hughes and
Connor Flynn both pitched 1.1 innings in relief for the Grizzlies.
Caleb Farmer had three hits and two RBI for the Mavericks, Chase Hamilton drove in two runs as well. Tanner Garner also got three hits and two RBI and Spencer Bramwell had two hits and three RBI.
Garrett Hutson started the game for Colorado Mesa and pitched 5.0 innings and striking out 10 Adams State batters while only allowing one run.
Colorado Mesa got off to a quicker start in game two, scoring six runs in the first inning, Dominic DeMarco homered on the first pitch of the game and set the tone for how the rest of the game would go.
A wild pitch scored the second run of the game and a Spencer Bramwell singled to left field driving in the third run of the inning. Two straight singles drove home two more runs and the final run of the first inning came in on and RBI groundout by Josh Shapiro.
The only hit of the game for Adams State came off the bat of
Paul Giglio in the second inning as he singled to left field.
Colorado Mesa scored again in the third inning, Tanner Garner tripled to left field driving in the seventh run for the Mavericks. Colorado Mesa scored another single run in the fourth inning on a Trevin Reynolds single to center but was thrown out trying to advance to second base.
The Mavericks brought three runs to the plate in the fifth inning, Tanner Garner singled to center field bringing in the first run and Josh Shapiro homered to right field increasing the score to 11-0 in favor of Colorado Mesa.
Both teams stayed scoreless for the last two innings of the game and Colorado Mesa secured the win for both the game at 11-0 and the series as they took the first three games.
Paul Giglio had the only hit for Adams State,
Dakota Solis drew a walk but that was the only offense for the Grizzlies.
Troy Gutbub started the game and pitched for 4.2 innings getting two strikeouts.
Connor Flynn pitched 1.1 innings in relief with two strikeouts as well.
Tanner Garner had three hits and three RBI and Josh Shapiro had one hit and three RBI including a home run. Chase Hamilton had two hits and two runs scored as well. Andrew Morris pitched the entire game, only allowing one hit and striking out 11 Grizzly batters.
The series finale is tomorrow with the first pitch set to be at 12 p.m.
