Colorado Christian earned their first conference victory of the season in game one of the day as they defeated UCCS by a final score of 7-5. Game two was a nail biter as both teams showed tremendous tenacity in the contest, but UCCS came away with the extra inning victory by a final score of 9-8.
 
Game 1:
Alex Ginn singled in Cooper Gray in the first inning of the game to give the Cougars an early 1-0 lead. However, UCCS answered in their half of the first inning as they scored one as well to knot things up again. The lead continued to switch sides in the early part of the game with CCU jumping in front in the second inning thanks to a sacrifice fly off the bat of Dakota Bayles scoring Dakota Johnson. Once again UCCS did not allow CCU to keep the lead very long as they scored twice to take a 3-2 lead heading into the third inning.
 
The seesaw battle between the teams continued in the middle innings. Mikale Doherty tied the game up in the fourth inning 3-3 with a single driving in Scotty Wright. For the third time, in the game, UCCS answered the Cougars run as they regained the lead in their half of the inning 4-3.
 
The over the course of the next five innings CCU scored four unanswered runs including two in the ninth inning to take a 7-4 lead with just three more outs to go. UCCS made things interesting after getting one run closer on a two out base hit. However, the Cougs had their closer Scotty Wright waiting to slam the door shut on any further comeback attempt. Wright collected the final out of the game to collect his third save of the season.
 
As a team, CCU combined for ten hits in the game led by Jerry Gallegos who finished 3-5 with two runs, one RBI and one stolen base in the game. Mikale Doherty was the other Cougar who was able to collect multiple hits in the game. Doherty finished a perfect 2-2 with an RBI and also drew a walk.
 
On the pitching side, Christian received a good outing from Evan Fink. Fink lasted seven innings scattering 11 hits and allowing four runs while also striking out four. Relieving Fink was Owen Harris who also pitched well going 1 2/3^rd innings allowing just two hits and one run.
 
Game 2:
The second game of the doubleheader turned out to be a thriller as both teams fought hard to be the victor. For the second game in a row, the Cougs jumped out in front early as they took the lead 1-0 in the second inning. UCCS stormed back and took the lead by scoring three runs in the third inning. Christian fought their way back as they scored once in the fourth, and twice more in the fifth to regain a slim one run advantage 4-3 after five innings of play.
 
CCU Freshman Phenom Jarrod Rivera got the start in the game, and appeared like he was well on his way to picking up the victory, but ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth inning as UCCS loaded the bases. With two outs, the flood gates opened and the Mountain Lions scored four runs to take a 7-4 lead going into the final inning.
 
Colorado Christian was resilient, and refused to give in no matter the climb. They scored once to make it 7-5, and with two outs and runners on first and third, they caught a break. Scotty Wright delivered a sharply hit single up the middle to score the runner from third, then as the UCCS centerfielder attempted to play the ball, it got away from him, which allowed the tying run to score as things were once again knotted up with a score of 7-7. After holding UCCS in the bottom of the seventh, CCU once again came to bat looking to take the lead in extra innings.
 
Mikale Doherty continued his hot day at the plate as he doubled to lead things off in the 8^th inning. After Doherty moved up to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Sam Gallegos, he then came to plate on the go ahead RBI single off of the bat of Cooper Gray. Once again the Cougars held a one run lead 8-7, going into the bottom of the 8^th inning. Scotty Wright came in to try and collect his second save of the day by getting the final three outs. UCCS worked a walk, and with two outs that runner was on second. UCCS came up with the clutch hit which scored the tying run, which sent the game into the ninth inning. After CCU was unable to score in the ninth, UCCS once again delivered a clutch two out RBI single, this time giving them the 9-8 victory over the Cougars.
 
It was a tough luck loss for CCU, who came within one strike of collecting the victory in both games. As a team, the team combined for 14 hits in the game, compared to just eight from UCCS. Five Cougars collected multiple hits in the game.
 
With the split on the day, the Cougar record now sits at 7-17 overall, and 1-9 in conference play. Both teams will be back in action on Sunday afternoon in Colorado Springs for the final two games of their series. The doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 12PM MST.