GRAND JUNCTION, CO – The starting pitchers were the story of the night from Suplizio Field.
In the series opener of a four-game set to close the regular season, No. 1 Colorado Mesa registered a 4-1 victory in a briskly played pitchers contest on Thursday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The starting pitcher duo of Cameron Spaeth and Andrew Morris were on point with their pitchers as each gave-up just five hits.
Speath threw a personal season high six innings where he allowed just three earned runs and kept the Maverick hitters off balance just enough. Meanwhile his counterpart from Colorado Mesa, Andrew Morris, didn't allowed an earned run and struck out 13 in his eight innings of work. The game took just over two hours to complete.
The Mavericks scored the game's first runs in the third stanza when Jordan Stubbings blasted a two-run, two-out home run to leftfield. Colorado Christian responded in the fourth frame when Blake Mattey scored on a fielding error by the third baseman to trim the home team's lead to 2-1.
A Johnny Carr single in the Mavericks half of the fourth inning gave his team back their two-run edge. Carr scored the game's final run with a solo homerun in the sixth inning.
Only two runners reached second base the rest of the game.
COUGAR LEADERS: Wyatt Crenshaw banged out two of the Cougars five hits.
In addition to Spaeth work on the bump, Jarrod Rivera came of the bullpen to throw the final two innings without allowing a hit.
RMAC PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS: The Cougars will keep a close eye on the Regis/New Mexico Highlands four-game series also happening during the final RMAC's final regular season weekend. The Cowboys could still catch the Cougars for the sixth, and final spot, seeds in the RMAC tournament as they currently have a 10-21 (.322) league record.
The critical CSU Pueblo/UCCS series was canceled due to Covid-19 protocols; meaning the Thunderwolves will end the season with a 12-20 RMAC record and, most importantly, a .400 winning percentage. Neither Colorado Christian or New Mexico Highlands can not overtake CSU Pueblo for the No. 5 seed.
Colorado Christian is currently 12-21 with a .363 RMAC winning percentage.
Winning percentage is what decides the final regular standings with the first tiebreaker head-to-head record between any teams potentially tied with the same winning percentage. An RPI formula is the next tiebreaker.
UP NEXT: The series continues on Friday at 3:30 p.m. with two seven inning games beginning at 3:30 p.m.
