Colorado Christian put up a fight Friday but fell short in the afternoon doubleheader, falling 12-11 and 11-4 to Colorado State-Pueblo.
Game one featured a furious Cougars rally that ended just shy of a comeback win. Christian jumped out to an early lead in game two but were undone by the ThunderWolves' big innings with the guests showing why they are one of the elite RMAC squads.
Taylor Dudley's two-run homer in the third inning cut the deficit to 5-3 but Pueblo responded by extending their advantage to 9-3 and later 12-5 by the seventh.
Over the final three frames CCU began to chip away at the Pueblo lead, applying pressure to the visitors as they churned through relief pitchers.
The Cougars struck for four runs in the eighth when Dudley collected another two RBI on a double, and run scoring singles by
Dustin Conley and
Austin Atkerson got the hosts to within two. Christian edged even closer in the ninth when
Zach Scott homered to right, but couldn't bring around a tying or winning run for the upset.
Throwing 4 1/3 innings, starter
Ryan Erazo (2-4) picked up the loss as
Garret Henrichsen,
Michael Cantrell, and
Matt Fontneau came on in relief.
Despite the tough game one loss CCU came out firing in Friday's finale. An RBI single by Dudley in the first inning gave the Cougars the lead and the senior right fielder five for the day. Freshman
Jerry Gallegos increased that lead the next inning when he hammered a ball over the right field fence for a three-run homer.
CCU looked sharp but the Wolves got to starter
Matt Weaver in the third, knotting the score with a four-run inning. With the score tied, Pueblo opened the floodgates in the sixth scoring seven runs on just four hits. Five walks by relievers
Danny Graves and
Jackson Gaskins helped the ThunderWolves add a handful of base runners.
Christian tallied 11 hits in the second contest but left just as many on base, stranding 11 men as they failed to score over the final five innings.
Facing one of the conference's best teams, the Cougars showed stretches of strong baseball, but will have to put together a complete game to knock off the Wolves. The teams wrap up the series with a doubleheader Sunday beginning at noon.
