Colorado Christian baseball played their second pair of games against Colorado Mesa University on Saturday, March 03, at All Star Park in Lakewood. The Cougars hadn't beaten the Mavericks since Feb. 21, 2014. That changed today when the Cougars took the fourth and final game of the series against the 6^th ranked team in the nation for Division II.

GAME 1:

It was the perfect day for baseball in Lakewood, Colorado, as the Cougars took to the field to play the Mavericks of Colorado Mesa for game three of their four game series. The first two innings had five errors between the teams, but Mesa was the only one able to capitalize on them and bring in five runs. The score going into the third inning was 5-0.

The Cougars got their first run in the 4^th, when Austin Maltby got on base after hitting a double. He advanced to third on a passed ball, and was brought home by an Alex Ginn ground out. The next run for CCU came in the 5^th, when Cooper Gray laced a homerun to straight away center for the Cougars to bring the score to 9-2 in favor of the Mavericks.

For the first time in the game, CCU outscored CMU in an inning in the 7^th. Mesa brought in three runs in the top of the inning, while Colorado Christian brought in five. It started with a triple from Dakota Bayless, followed by a walk from Jack Nelson. Bayless was then brought in after a double from Cooper Gray. Nelson then scored when Mikale Doherty came in and grounded out. Gray was then brought in by a double from Kaleb Johnson, and Johnson finished his trip around the bases along with Austin Atkerson after his two out homerun that gave the Cougars five runs on four hits in the inning, closing the score gap to 12-7.

However, Mesa responded and brought in another four runs in the 8^th, to make the score 16-7 going into the 9^th. The ninth was almost even, as the Mavericks scored three runs and the Cougars scored two. With one man on base and two outs, Austin Atkerson started a string of singles with a liner up the middle. Joel Manzano and Dillon Mctague followed with singles of their own, to bring in Doherty and Atkerson.

But the Cougars would not be able to mount the historic comeback and fell to CMU after another impressive Maverick showing, the final score of game three was 19-9.

Atkerson and Gray led the team offensively, both notching two hits, two runs, and two RBI's, and each had a homerun in the game. Dakota Bayles smacked his first triple of the season which turned into a run.

Cougar starting pitcher Evan Fink had a uncharacteristic rough outing against the Mavs, allowing eight runs, six of them earned, on 12 hits while walking and striking out just one in four innings of work. Four other Cougar pitchers made an appearance in game three and combined to allow another eight earned runs while striking out just two batters in five combined innings.

GAME 2:

The fourth and final game of the series had a different feel to it from the beginning. As the home team the Cougars took to the field first and from the first pitch, game four starter Scotty Wright was dealing. After allowing a leadoff single to CMU, Wright would strike out the next three batters, all swinging. Wright would retire the next three batters in order as well, forcing one line out and two easy fly outs in the top of the second.

CMU would finally put the first run of the game on the scoreboard in the top of the 3^rd inning after scoring an unearned run off of a passed ball. That lead would be short lived though.

CCU also started scoring in the bottom portion of the 3^rd inning, as designated hitter Kaleb Johnson started the at bat off with a single to left. Scotty Ingle would advance Johnson to second base with his own infield single, but Johnson would be thrown out at third base during the next at bat off of a Cooper Gray fielder's choice, pushing Ingle to second. With one out, second baseman Hunter Hays ripped a double down the left field line and scored Ingle from second and Cooper all the way from first. This gave the Cougars a 2-1 lead early.

Though the Mavs didn't record a hit in the top of the 4^th inning, they did manage to load the bases by working walks and taking a hit by pitch. They would not capitalize on the opportunity though, and stranded all three runners at their bags.

The Cougars took to a small ball approach in the bottom of the fourth inning and after Austin Maltby struck out swinging to lead off the inning, rattled off four straight singles. Bote got things started, followed by Barrios, Johnson, and Ingle. Bote would score courtesy of Johnsons hit, while Barrios would plate after Ingles singled to left. After the second Cougar strike out if the inning, hot hand Hunter Hays did it again, and sent a double down to left field, allowing Ingle and Johnson to come around and score. Jerry Gallegos would be the next Cougar to reach base, courtesy of a Mavericks error at first base, which also allowed Hays to score an unearned run from second. Two more Cougars would come to the plate, but no more runs would score. The damage was done and CCU now led 7-1, their largest lead of the series by far.

But Mesa wasn't going to roll over for their RMAC foes. Instead, they dug in their heels and began to mount their comeback. They did all of their real damage with two outs in the inning and while taking advantage of some CCU miscues.  The Mavericks would take a total of seven bases in the inning off of a wild pitch, a passed ball, and a rare called balk that led to a Maverick unearned run. CMU never hit more than a single, and just three of those, but managed to score three runs while also stranding three runners on base.

The Mavs would tack on another unearned run in the top of the sixth inning to bring the score to 5-7 in favor of the Cougars, and while CCU still maintained a lead, the CMU bench was growing more and more confident and vocal. CCU would also add an unearned run to their total in the bottom half of the sixth inning, bringing the score to 8-5 with just one more inning to go.

As shadows grew long across the field, the Mavericks needed to go on an offensive run everyone in the stadium knew they were capable of in order to stay in the game. Relief pitcher Zach Haning, who had entered the game midway through the top of the 6^th inning, came back out to close out the game and potentially earn his first save of the season. He managed to get the first batter out by forcing a ground ball to shortstop JC Barrios for an easy first out. Haning would walk the next CMU batter to put a man at first. The third CMU batter hit a rocket line drive towards left center field, but in what was a seemingly miraculous display of reaction time and skills, Barrios leapt up and snagged the ball out of the air and nearly threw out the baserunner who had started for second after seeing the ball leave the bat. With two outs, the final hope of Mesa stepping into the batter's box and would eventually lift a pop up to none other than CCU shortstop JC Barrios. As Barrios squeezed his glove to ensure the final out, the home fans began to cheer and the team rushed to Barrios to celebrate with their 7^th inning hero.

The Cougars victory was no doubt an all-around team win, but was led largely by some not so familiar names. Sophomore second baseman Hunter Hays led the way offensively with two hits, one run, and four huge RBI's, really taking advantage of the opportunities presented to him. Kaleb Johnson and Scotty Ingle both also had two hit games, while notching one RBI each, but while Johnson only scored one run, Ingle found his way home three times to score. Barrios went 1-3 on the day with a run, but his defensive prowess was key for the Cougar victory, tallying two put-outs and four assisted put-outs on the day, more than anyone on the team besides the catcher and first basemen.

The Cougars record sits at 3-8 after this weekend's series against CMU. They will return to the diamond on Friday and Saturday, March 9^th and 10^th, for a three game series against Manhattan Christian College. Friday's doubleheader games are scheduled for 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.