The Cougars took to the field on Sunday looking for the series sweep against Providence Christian College. Colorado Christian was able to come away with the victory by a final score of 7-5. The team will be leaving Arizona a perfect 3-0 on the trip, thanks in part to the awakening of their offense. During the three game series, they were able to explode for 25 runs on 33 hits.
The game started off a little shaky as Providence Christian was able to string a couple of hits together and come up with two runs to take an early 2-0 lead. The score remained in favor of the Sea Beggars until the bottom half of the third inning when CCU was able to open the flood gates as they scored five runs on five hits in the inning. The Cougars had several chances to put the game out of reach, but were unable to come away with the clutch hits to drive in the runners. Providence continued to battle their way back into the game, but heading into the ninth inning, CCU had a 7-5 lead and were bringing in their faithful closer
Mike Marlar to finish it out. Marlar slammed the door shut on any comeback attempt that Providence Christian had in mind and earned his fourth save of the season.
The bullpen for CCU was able to keep the offense stifled as their relievers combined to throw five innings while allowing just four hits and one run, while striking out five. Freshman
Alex Ginn earned his first collegiate victory as he relieved starter
Daniel Bednarski and threw one scoreless in inning allowing just one hit. Ginn has made a great first impression as he has now appeared in six games on the year and has a miniscule 2.19 ERA.
Offensively, the Cougars received multi-hit efforts from four players on the day.
Pete McWilliams finished the game 3-4 with two runs scored.
Chance Richardson also finished 3-4 and displayed his speed as he recorded his first stolen base of the season.
Jerry Gallegos did his job as the leadoff hitter, going 2-4 with a run scored.
Brandon Hesselberg went 2-3 with a run scored which boosted his team leading average to .382 on the year.
With the win, their record improves to 5-8 on the year. They will now travel back to Lakewood in order to prepare for their conference opening series next weekend (Mar. 4-6) when they will take on perennial baseball powerhouse Colorado Mesa University. It will also be the first home series for the team as they will open up All Star Park in Lakewood, CO for the 2016 season. First pitch for the opening game next Friday is scheduled for 12PM MST.
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