The Cougar baseball team opened up their RMAC season facing likely their toughest opponents in conference, the RMAC champions from the past six years, the Mavericks of Colorado Mesa University. Both teams both recently faced a common foe in the Cal Baptist Lancers with the Cougars dropping three games in Riverside, while the Mavericks spilt a four-game series in California.
 
GAME 1:
 
CCU came into the match-up well rested after last week's games against Texas Permian Basin were snowed out. The teams traded runs in the first two innings and were tied at 2-2 after two. The Cougars took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning as Luke Bote kept up his hot streak singling up the middle to plate JC Barrios from second after his double. Bote would advance to second during the next batter, and score off an Austin Maltby single, giving the Cougars a 4-2 lead.
 
CMU would answer in a big way in the fifth inning. They would score 5 runs, all unearned, after an error allowed the inning to continue, including a 3-run homerun that put them up 7-4. The sixth inning saw more of the same when the Mavericks plated another three runs off a solo and a 2-run homerun to jump up to a 10-4 lead.
 
The game was seemingly starting to slip away from the Cougars until they caught a second wind in the bottom of the 7^th inning. Center fielder Jerry Gallegos led off the inning by working a walk for a free base. Immediately following Scotty Wright doubled to right field and advanced to third on an error which also allowed Gallegos to score. Austin Atkerson immediately doubled to right center, bringing Wright home for another run. After a pitching change, Luke Bote came up to the plate and doubled to right center, plating another Cougar run and cutting the lead to 7-10.
 
The Cougars followed that up with more of the same in the bottom of the 8^th inning. A lead-off single by Scotty Ingle was followed up by a Hunter Hays single up the middle which was enough for Ingle to score from first. Gallegos came to the plate again intending to continue helping the cause and that he did. Gallegos ripped a triple to left center that allowed to Hays to score easily. Two batters later, Austin Atkerson came back into the batter's box and sent a double down the right field line and brought Gallegos home. Their efforts in the inning allowed the Cougars to tie the game up 10-10 going into the 9^th inning.
 
The Mavericks wouldn't go down without a fight and made a push in the top of the 9^th. With two outs in the top of the ninth a Maverick hitter laced a ball to the left field corner. Substitute Kaleb Johnson raced towards the hit and dove for the final out, but just missed the catch which dropped in for a one run double. CMU would score a pair of runs with 2 outs to take a 10-12 lead. The Cougars were in a pinch heading into the bottom of the 9^th inning.
 
The Cougars were led off by pinch hitter Alex Ginn. Despite his prowess at the plate this season, sports a .375 batting average so far, Ginn showed patience and worked a walk to get on base for the Cougars. Austin Maltby came up to bat representing the tying run and in dramatic fashion launched a two-run homerun to right field, scoring himself and Jack Nelson who had come in to pinch run for Ginn. Though the Cougars would place two more runners on base, they would not be able to capitalize on them and the game went to extra innings.
 
The hitting clinic continued in the top of the 10^th when CMU scored four runs on a combination of three Cougar pitchers and three Cougar errors to vault back into the lead 16-12. The bottom of the 10^th inning saw CCU fight valiantly, plating two more runs but fall short of another comeback, ultimately falling by a score of 14-16.
 
In a 10 inning, 14 run game, there are bound to be some impressive offensive numbers, but none more so than Austin Maltby. The senior catcher had a tremendous bounce back game after a less than stellar series in California and went 4-6 tonight with 4 RBI's, 1 run, and a homerun. It also seemed like he turned into a brick wall at times behind the plate, securing tough pitches that may have gotten away from a lesser catcher. In all, seven Cougars had multi-hit games. Atkerson, Bote, and Ingle all tallied 3 hits each, while Gallegos, Wright, and Barrios all had a pair. Bote was the only Cougar with multiple hits, runs, and RBI's with 3, 2, and 2 respectively. This game brought Bote's hit streak to six games in a row.
 
The Cougars sent Joey Loranger to the bump to start game one against the Mavericks. Both starting pitchers had rough outings, CMU's starter allowed seven earned runs, while Laranger allowed 10 runs, but only five earned while striking out three Mavericks. In total, the Cougar pitchers allowed 16 runs, only seven of which were earned, and struck out six batters.
 
GAME 2:
 
The second game of the double-header got a late start, with first pitch coming nearly an hour after its scheduled start time due to the first games extravagance. With dusk quickly approaching and growing shadows making all aspects of the game difficult, the Cougars would eventually fall 22-5 in a five-inning game called early on account of darkness.
 
The score was 3-1 in favor of CMU after two innings and then the Mavericks busted it wide open with a seven-run third inning. They would tack on another four runs in the fourth, and cap off the scoring onslaught by plating another eight runs in the fifth inning.
 
In an almost complete reversal from the first game, the Cougars had just one player with multiple hits, Scotty Wright, who also tallied a pair of RBI's in the game. Second basemen Hunter Hays had one hit and reached an additional time on a CMU error, but scored two runs on the night.
 
The Cougars record drops to 2-7 after the first day of double-headers against CMU, with another pair of games coming on Saturday, March 3, at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at All Star Park in Lakewood, CO.