The Colorado Christian baseball team kicked off their season on Friday night as they faced off against Webber International University in Babson Park, Florida. The Cougars fought hard, but fell to the Warriors by a final score of 6-4. A strong pitching performance, and timely hitting by Webber, ultimately cost CCU the opening game of their 2016 campaign.

Junior Danny Graves got the opening day nod from first year head coach Gregg Mucerino. Graves started a little rocky, as he gave up one run in the first and three in the second, but bounced back nicely and finished his outing with three straight scoreless innings. He finished the day with five innings pitched while giving up four runs (three earned), on five hits, and struck out three.

Webber starter Colin Richardson had the Cougars offense stifled throughout his start as he went six innings giving up one run on three hits and striking out nine Colorado Christian hitters. Branden Amenta was able to get the Cougars first hit on the year as he ripped a single into left center with two out in the fifth inning.

Down 4-0, CCU started their comeback attempt in the sixth inning when Pete McWilliams singled up the middle to drive in Jerry Gallegos who had doubled earlier in the inning. Another two unanswered runs gave WIU the 6-1 lead heading into the eighth inning where Brandon Hesselberg was responsible for adding the second Cougar run to the scoreboard when he singled to drive in Ben Gooch.

Heading into the ninth, CCU was down four, but gave Webber everything they could handle to finish the game. Weston Wiederhold and Brandon Amenta set the table by getting on base in front of Bryce Brenton, who promptly cleared the bases with a double down the right field line. Unfortunately that was as close as they would get as Webber finished out the inning and handed CCU their first loss of the season by a final score of 6-4.

Head coach Gregg Mucerino spoke about his team's effort after the game, "I was really proud of how well our guys played tonight. Obviously because of weather back home we did not have a chance to be outside as much as we would have liked, but our guys did not let that impact the way they played tonight. I issued a challenge to our guys in the ninth inning to get the tying run up to the plate, and they were able to have great at bats and achieve that goal. Unfortunately the game did not go our way tonight, but if we continue to give that same kind of effort throughout the season, then it is going to be a great season."

The Cougars will be back in action on Saturday as they travel to Lake Wales, Florida to take on Warner University. It will be a doubleheader for CCU with the first game starting at 9 AM MST, and the second game is scheduled to start at 12 PM.

DNL