The CCU baseball team traveled up the road to Regis University on Friday for the first of four games against the Rangers. The Cougars were hoping to extend their 4-game win streak that started with a win against Colorado Mesa back on March 3^rd and was extended after a 3-game sweep of Manhattan Christian College last weekend. The Cougars, 6-8 overall and 1-3 in RMAC play, were hoping their win streak would overcome the Rangers conflicting streak of four-in-a-row after a series sweep against RMAC foe Adams State, which brought their overall record to 14-7, and 5-3 in RMAC.
 
The game started about as well as the Cougars could have wanted, with a solo homerun in the top of the first inning by centerfielder Jerry Gallegos to put the Cougs up 1-0. Unfortunately for the Cougars, the Rangers liked the look of that homerun and cranked out three of their own, the last of which was a grand slam to put them up 8-1 early in the game.
 
The top of the second inning saw CCU not hang their heads at the thought of the comeback now needed, but rather coming out swinging to try to regain their short-lived early lead. The first five Cougars that came to the plate in the top of the second reached base safely and were highlighted by freshman JC Barrios' RBI double down the right field line that would bring in leadoff hitter Austin Maltby to bring the score to 8-2. The next hit came from Scotty Ingle whose single up the middle would bring in both Luke Bote and Barrios to again cut into the lead 8-4.
 
CCU would allow one more run in the bottom of the second, and score one more in the top of the third again thanks for a JC Barrios double to bring the score to 5-9 in favor of Regis, but still very much either teams game to win. The bats would go rather cold for the next few innings, with both teams combining for just four hits in three innings until Regis changed all of that in the bottom of the 6^th.
 
Still leading 9-5 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Regis had an offensive awakening, scoring seven runs on seven hits while sending 11 batters up to the plate in the half inning. They would increase their lead to 16-5 and essentially claim the game. Each team would tack on one more run, Regis in the bottom of the seventh, and Colorado Christian in the top of the 8^th, to bring the game to its final score of 17-6.
 
The Cougars were led offensively by JC Barrios who had arguably his best game at the plate so far in his young career at CCU. Barrios got his first 3-hit game and multi-RBI game of his career at CCU today while also being flawless in the field. And despite hitting in the bottom of the order, Luke Bote, Austin Maltby, and Scotty Ingle were at the top of their hitting game today. Each had multiple hits in the game and had either a pair of runs or RBI's on the day.
 
The Cougars will return to Denver on March 17^th to take on the Regis Rangers in an RMAC doubleheader and try to restart the win streak they lost today. Game times are scheduled for 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.