Colorado Christian returned to Northwest Denver on Saturday, March 17^th, to play the Rangers in an RMAC doubleheader. After Regis' convincing 17-6 victory yesterday, the Cougars returned to Regis with winning in their sights.
 
GAME 1:
 
CCU wasted no time proving yesterday was in the past by building a quick 3-0 lead. The top of the first saw lead-off hitter Cooper Gray ingle through the left side and steal second to get in to scoring position early. Jerry Gallegos would later walk to put runners on first and second with one out. Next up was clean-up hitter Scotty Wright who sent a single through the left side, enough to score Gray and move Gallegos to second. After a fly-out Luke Bote stepped into the batter's box and drove a hit through the left side. During the play Gallegos scored from second, beating the throw from the left fielder. While the throw was mid-fight Scotty Wright attempted to advance from second to third, but the Regis catcher had other ideas and returned the ball to the third baseman in time to tag out Wright. Gallegos score would still count, and the Cougars led 2-0 after the top of the first inning.
 
The Cougars would tack on one more run in the top of the second inning after JC Barrios, who doubled to left center, was brought home on a Scotty Ingle double to right center. The run brought the score to 3-0 Cougars.
 
That lead would not last for long though, with the Ranger launching a pair of solo homeruns in the bottom of the 2^nd inning, and one more in the bottom of the third to even things up. Regis would later take the lead after an unearned run found it's way home in the bottom of the 4^th, and would score the final run of the game in the bottom of the 6^th inning, when another unearned run scored off of a failed pickoff attempt allowed.
 
Offensively it was a quiet day for CCU with the Cougars boasting just two players with multi-hit games in Cooper Gray and Luke Bote.  On the mound to start today was senior Joey Loranger who tossed five strong innings, striking out four while walking three and allowing eight hits. Even though both starting pitchers allowed three earned runs, the additional two unearned that scored while Loranger was in the bump was the difference in the game. His record drops to 1-2 on the year, with an ERA at 3.55.
 
GAME 2:
 
The third game of the series was a turning point for the Cougar squad, despite not having the more impressive numbers the first two games had in store for CCU. The Cougars and Rangers would combine for only three hits in the first two innings, making for a quick game early on. However, that changed in the top of the 3^rd inning.
 
With two outs in the top of the 3^rd Hunter Hays, who had struggled to get on base so far this series, knocked his first hit against Regis to find his way to first before center fielder Jerry Gallegos came up to bat. In game one of this series Jerry had opened-up scoring with a solo homerun, just this time he had a man on base for his second homer of the series, and season, to put the Cougs up 2-0.
 
The Rangers would try to match some of that momentum as their leadoff man singled to start the bottom half of the inning and would score during the next at-bat off a double down the left field line. Regis would manage just the one run though, and CCU held onto a 1-run lead going into the 4^th inning.
 
After a scoreless 4^th inning for both teams the Cougars would lead off the 5^th inning with left fielder Cooper Gray, who would leg out an in-the-park homerun for his third homerun of the season to put the Cougars up 3-1.
 
After that, it was up to the pitching staff to keep the lead for the final two innings to even have a shot at splitting the series. Starter Scotty Wright threw five great innings, striking out four while allowing two runs on six hits. Reliever Alex Ginn would come in for a short stint in the 6^th inning, facing three batters and striking out one, and allowing one run that would be charges to Wright, bringing the score to 3-2. Finally, closer Jarred Rivera would get another chance to get his first save of the season, when he was tasked with getting the final five outs of the game. He would force a double-play to end the 6^th, got the first two batters of the bottom of the seven to ground out harmlessly, and then Rivera got his lone emphatic strike out swinging on the day to end the game and earn his first save of 2018.
 
The Cougars improve to 7-10 overall, and 2-5 in RMAC play with the win, and have a chance to split the series with the Rangers tomorrow afternoon when they return to Denver for the final game of the series which is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.