The CCU Cougar baseball team returned to Golden today, just two weeks removed from their Pod Play weekend against the Orediggers and Mavericks in early April. The Cougars took the first game against the Colorado School of Mines on April 7^th, and did the same thing today, winning a close one by a score of 3-2. The win for the Cougars brings their record to 15-20 overall (10-15 RMAC).
 
Cooper Gray led off the first inning by taking the second pitch to the body. Standing on first, Gray watched the next Cougar strike out and then went first-to-third on a Jerry Gallegos single. Gray would score later in the inning on a wild pitch, giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead early in the contest.
 
The score would remain the same until the bottom of the 7^th inning when the Orediggers would even the total at 1-1 with a lead off, first-pitch home run off Cougar ace Joey Loranger. For Loranger, it was just his first homer allowed his last four starts.
 
CCU would answer immediately in the top of the 8^th inning. Gallegos would double to left center with one out. He would later get sent home on an Austin Atkerson single through the right side, but the throw from the right fielder would beat him there. Austin Maltby would follow it up with another single, pushing Atkerson to second with two outs. Dillon Mctague would single to left center, which would advance the Austins up, Maltby to third and scoring Atkerson. During the play Mctague would try to take advantage of the situation and take second but would get caught in a pickle and eventually was out, but the run still counted, putting the Cougars back up 2-1.
 
Colorado Christian would add to that lead in the top of the 9^th inning, with Joel Manzano leading off with an infield single, advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt by Luke Bote, and moving over to third on Scotty Ingle's second hit of the game a single to right field. Cooper Gray would step into the batter's box next and drive in Manzano after reaching on a fielder's choice. Gray, arguably the fastest Cougar on the team, is likely the only player who could have avoided the double-play in that instance, securing a very important third run for CCU heading into the bottom of the 9^th inning.
 
Having still thrown less than 100 pitches at this point, Loranger would return to the mound for the Cougars in the bottom of the 9^th in an effort to finish what he started. Trailing 3-1 the Orediggers started off the inning with a triple to right center field, scoring on the next play with a single to left field. After those six pitches and the one run scoring, Head Coach Gregg Mucerino went to the bullpen to close out the game. Reliever Alex Ginn came into the game looking for his first save of the year, and was given a one-run lead, a runner on first, and no outs to work with. Ginn wasted no time as he struck out the first batter he faced on three straight pitches. He needed four pitches to retire the next batter who flew out to center field for out number two. And then, with his 10^th pitch, get batter number three to strike out swinging, cementing the Cougars 3-2 win over the #14 Orediggers.
 
Ginn was visibly excited after the game and said this about coming into the game when he did, "I knew what I had to do to win the game, I've been in tough situations all year. I trusted my stuff and my team. Nerves for me are nonexistent. We won and it's a pleasure to play a pivotal role in it."
 
But Ginn's opportunity wouldn't have been a possibility without the eight innings of spectacular pitching that came from Joey Loranger first. Joey finished the game throwing 103 pitches and allowed just two earned runs on seven hits while striking out six Orediggers and walking none. Joey held the nations 3^rd best hitting team (.344 BA) to batting just .233 on the day, specifically frustrating three the RMAC's top five hitters in Kehe (#1), Popp (#3) and Gangwish (#5) into going just 1-12 combined on the day.
 
In such a low scoring game for a conference like the RMAC, the offensive stats would seem a bit underwhelming, but each team had three players with multi-hit games, including Gallegos, Atkerson, and Ingle for the Cougars. Dillon Mctague worked the only walk of the game for either team.
 
Weather permitting, the Cougars will return to Golden on Saturday the 21^st for an afternoon and early-evening doubleheader scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.