The CCU Cougars baseball team ended their home season with a loss to the Metro State Roadrunners today. The game was nothing if not entertaining, as it included eight stolen bases, six homeruns and a triple. The loss however does knock the Cougars out of RMAC Tournament contention and they will have to wait for the 2019 season to make another run at their first appearance in the conference post-season.
 
Metro State got off to another hot start in the final game of the series, scoring four runs in the top of the first and knocking their first of four 3-run home runs in the game. They would score multiple runs in five of the games 9 innings.
 
The Cougars 10 runs would have been enough scoring to win 12 of CCU's season losses, but today was a rare occasion when 10 wasn't enough. The Cougars scored in all but three innings today, but each time the Cougars scored, the Roadrunners matched or bettered that number in the next half inning.
 
In the 2^nd inning Dakota Bayles launched a 2-run home run, scoring Kaleb Johnson and putting the first Cougar runs on the board. Cooper Gray would later double and then score off Jerry Gallegos' single that found its way into right field.
 
In the 4^th inning Bayless would score again when Cooper Gray tallied an RBI single down the left field line.
 
Kaleb Johnson would tack on another RBI in the bottom of the 5^th inning when he smacked the days lone triple, scoring Scotty Ingle from first.
 
CCU's threatened again in the bottom of the 7^th inning, scoring three runs to make it an 8-11 game. Austin Atkerson would single and later score on a two-out single from Kaleb Johnson. The very next batter up for the Cougars, Dakota Bayles, would double down the left field line, pushing Johnson to third and scoring Joel Manzano. Bayles would score after a Metro State pitching change when he took advantage of a wild pitch.
 
Austin Atkerson would single in the bottom of the 8^th inning to score Gray for the Cougars lone run of the inning. Finally, in the bottom of the 9^th inning, down by eight runs to start the final frame, the Cougars kept swinging and clearly put a little scare into the Roadrunners. Johnson led off the inning with a double, followed by a single by Bayles on the first pitch he saw. The back-to-back base hits forced MSUD to switch pitchers again. The switch did not have the immediate desired effect and Mikale Doherty took the first pitch he saw from the new pitcher and sent it into left field, scoring Johnson. That would be the Cougars last hit in the series as the next three Cougars all made contact but never made it to first base.
 
In this the last home game for this season for this senior class, it was only fitting that seniors lead the way in the box score. Kaleb Johnson had his best game of the year so far, going 4-4 from the plate while scoring three runs and bringing in another two. Dakota Bayles was not far behind, hitting 3-5 on the day with three RBI's and scoring a pair of runs. Cooper Gray, Austin Atkerson, and Austin Maltby all had multi-hit games as well. Gray one upped the Austin's just slightly, scoring two runs and bringing in one while also stealing two bags.
 
The pitching staff went six deep today but was absolutely highlighted by senior Peter Scheffel. Scheffel came in to relieve Michael Cantrell to start the top of the 6^th inning, and early on it did not seem like it was going to be the Senior memory Peter was hoping for. The first Roadrunner he faced took the second pitch he offered up out of the park, but Scheffel would not let it get him down. Peter would go on to strike out three of the next four MSU batters, two of them looking. He would ultimately throw two innings, strike out three, allow just one run on two hits, and would retire the side in order in the top of the 7^th.
 
The Cougars will close out their RMAC season next weekend when they travel to Las Vegas, NM, to take on the New Mexico Highlands University Cowboys in the final series of the season. They will play two doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, both days start at 12:00 p.m.