The Cougars made the trip to Kansas and began their three game series with Fort Hays State on Friday afternoon. After a hot start by the Cougs, Fort Hays scored seven in the middle innings, which was just enough to earn them the victory over CCU by a final score of 7-6.
 
Colorado Christian jumped out to an early 4-0 lead as they scored four times in the second inning. Mikale Doherty singled in Luke Bote, to give the team a 1-0 lead and brought Brandon Hesselberg to the plate with two runners on. Hesselberg delivered, as he sent the first pitch of the at bat over the wall in left field to put the Cougs up 4-0. Hesselberg proved that he put in work at the weight room in the off-season, as it marked the first career collegiate homerun for the senior.
 
Evan Fink got the start for CCU in the game. Fink came into the game with a spotless 2-0 record and an ERA just above one. After cruising through the first two innings, he ran into trouble in the third. An error allowed a runner on base for the Tigers, which prolonged the inning. With two outs, the Tigers took advantage of the mistake as they cut the CCU lead in half with a homerun off the bat of Jake Lanferman. Fort Hays State added two more runs in the fourth to tie the game up, then took the lead in the fifth 5-4, and increased their lead to three as they scored two more in the sixth.
 
An Austin Maltby sacrifice fly in the seventh trimmed the Tigers lead down to two at 7-5. They cut the lead down to just one in the eighth inning thanks to an RBI groundout from Branden Amenta. Heading into the final inning, the score remained 7-6 in favor of Fort Hays. The Cougar rally began when Jerry Gallegos doubled to right center with one out in the inning. Austin Maltby followed that with a single that pushed Gallegos to third. The Tigers recorded the second out, which brought up Cooper Gray. Gray drew a walk, which loaded the bases. Dillon Mctague came up, but it was not meant to be, as he took a called third strike to end the game.
 
Jerry Gallegos finished the game 3-5 with two doubles. Brandon Hesselberg went 2-5 with a homerun and three RBI. Kaleb Johnson also went 2-5 with a double and a run scored. The Cougars bullpen was fantastic in the game as Owen Harris and Alex Ginn combined to throw three innings allowing one hit, no runs, and collected two strikeouts.
 
These two teams will be back in action for game two of the series on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 12PM MST.