The baseball team was back in action for a doubleheader against UCCS on Friday. After jumping out to an early lead in the top of the first inning, the Mountain Lions went on an offensive surge and eventually took game one by a final score of 21-5. The second game was tightly contested, but CCU was unable to mount a comeback in the final frame and fell by a final score of 8-7.
 
Game 1:     Caden Walton started the game off right for the Cougars in the top of the first inning. The CCU leadoff hitter drove the ball over the right field fence to give Colorado Christian the early 1-0 lead. They were not done in the first however as Frankie Shearn followed Walton with a single, then later came home to score on an RBI single off the bat of Luke Thompson to put CCU up 2-0 going to the bottom of the first.
 
The lead was unfortunately short lived as UCCS battled back and eventually scored five runs off four hits. The score remained 5-2 in favor of UC-Colorado Springs until the bottom of the third inning when the Mountain Lions added to their lead with another big inning. They tallied seven runs on five hits to take the commanding 12-2 lead.
 
CCU got one back in the fifth inning when Jordan Medina drove in Wyatt Crenshaw who had tripled earlier in the inning. The triple for Crenshaw is his seventh on the season, which ties him for the single season record with Former Cougar great Jerry Gallegos.
 
UCCS continued to have big innings as they scored four more runs in the fifth inning to take a 16-3 lead. Colorado Christian scored two runs in the sixth inning with the first coming from Russell Cruz who hit a homerun to left field to lead off the inning. That marked the third homerun for Cruz in the series. Caden Walton drove in Major Maydon with an RBI groundout which made the score 16-5.
 
In the bottom half of the sixth, the Mountain Lions once again put together a big inning as they scored five more runs to make the score 21-5, which ended up being the final.
 
Game 2:     The second game did not start off the way that CCU had hoped as they were held scoreless in the top of the first and UCCS hit two homeruns and scored four runs to take the early 4-0 lead. After a scoreless second inning from both sides, CCU began their comeback attempt in the top of the third inning.
 
Caden Walton got the rally started as he singled over the shortstops head and into left centerfield. Frankie Shearn followed with a double down the rightfield line which moved Walton to third. Walton scored on a wild pitch and Shearn moved up to third base. Wyatt Crenshaw then singled which allowed Shearn to score easily. Jordan Medina kept the inning going as he doubled to rightfield to score Crenshaw and pull the Cougars within one. Luke Thompson delivered the equalizer as he hit a sacrifice fly to score Medina. UCCS once again pulled in front in the bottom of the third as they scored three runs to take a 7-4 lead after three innings of play.
 
Determined to battle back, Gabe Ramos singled to lead off the fourth inning which brought up Major Maydon. Maydon delivered as he homered to right centerfield to tighten the deficit down once again to just one as they now trailed 7-6. UCCS got one back in the bottom of the fourth to take a two-run lead heading into the last few innings.
 
With the score still 8-6 heading into the seventh and final inning, the Cougars tried to claw their way back and even up the score. Wyatt Crenshaw doubled to right centerfield with Caden Walton on first which allowed Walton to come all the way around and score to make the score 8-7. With the tying run on second, Jordan Medina came up and was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Luke Thompson came up for the deciding at bat and nearly played the role of the hero, but his line drive was snagged by the second baseman to end the game.
 
With both outcomes today, the Cougars record now sits at 12-23 overall, and 8-11 in conference play. The series finale against UCCS is scheduled for Saturday with first pitch at 12PM MST.