Colorado Christian traveled down to Grand Junction, CO on Friday to face off with Colorado Mesa University. The game was played under the lights, but the Cougars fell just short as they lost by a final score of 5-4 on the night. Mesa is ranked fourth in the nation, but the Cougars held their own in the game and nearly pulled off the upset.
 
Senior Ryan Erazo got the start in the game, and like he has done so often this year, he kept the team in the game throughout. He pitched into the seventh inning for the third consecutive outing. Daniel Bednarski came in to relieve Erazo in the seventh inning and he finished out the rest of the game as he went 1 2/3rds innings allowing just one hit and striking out four.
 
CCU got the scoring underway in their half of the fourth inning as they took advantage of a couple of defensive miscues by the Mavericks, which allowed Jerry Gallegos to score the first run of the game and give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Mesa tied the game in the fifth inning, but the Cougars got it right back in the sixth inning thanks to a double off the bat of Weston Wiederhold which drove in Jerry Gallegos and Pete McWilliams which put CCU on top 3-1. Unfortunately, the lead was short lived as the Mavericks answered back with three runs in their half of the sixth inning to give them their first lead of the game 4-3. CMU added one more in the seventh to push the lead to two.
 
Colorado Christian had a golden opportunity in the eighth inning as Austin Atkerson led off with a walk and Weston Wiederhold singled down the right field line. Jack Nelson was the next batter and he had a bunt single which was then thrown away by the Mesa third baseman which allowed Atkerson to score and cut the deficit down to just one run. Del Richardson was next up and laid down a bunt to try and score Wiederhold from third. The bunt was fielded by the pitcher who fired back to the catcher to cut down Wiederhold and prevent the tying run to score. Marcus Graves stood in next, but ran into some tough luck as he grounded into an inning ending double play which halted the rally and allowed Mesa to maintain their 5-4 lead. That turned out to be the best chance for the Cougs as they were retired in order in the ninth inning which ended the game and sealed the victory for the fourth ranked Colorado Mesa squad.
 
Weston Wiederhold and Austin Atkerson both finished the game with two hits. Wiederhold went 2-4 with a double and two RBI, while Atkerson finished 2-3 with a run scored and also drew a walk.
 
The team will be back in action on Saturday as they will square off against Colorado Mesa again for game two of their three game series. First pitch for the game will be at 1PM MST.