CCU kicked off their weekend series with Colorado School of Mines on Friday, but came away with a loss as Mines was able to defeat the Cougars by a final score of 14-2. The Orediggers used solid pitching and were able to come up with the clutch hits in the game which led to the outcome.
 
The game began as a pitching duel, as CCU starter Austin Atkerson held Mines to just one run on one hit through three innings of play as it was a close game with the score of 1-0 heading into the fourth inning. The fourth inning was the back breaker as CSM exploded for seven runs on seven hits. The Cougars also had trouble defensively in the inning as they had two errors, which prolonged the inning and led to the lopsided score. Mines can attribute their success on the day to their clutch hitting especially with two outs. As a team, they finished 7-16 and had seven RBI when CCU was an out away from getting out of the inning.  
 
Offensively, Colorado Christian had a decent approach as they finished the game with eight hits, but they were not able to keep up with the torrid pace the Orediggers set. Brandon Hesselberg and Ben Gooch both finished with multiple hits on the day, as Hesselberg went 2-4, and Gooch went 2-3. Both Cougar runs came off the bat of Pete McWilliams who singled to right field which drove in Jerry Gallegos who had doubled earlier in the inning. The second run came on the same play as the right fielder made an error, which allowed Weston Wiederhold to score from first and McWilliams also was able to advance to second on the play.
 
The loss drops the Cougar record to 5-13 overall, and 0-5 in conference play. They will be back in action on Saturday, as they will take on Colorado School of Mines for a doubleheader in Golden, CO. First pitch for the first game is set for 12PM MST. 

DNL