PUEBLO, CO- The Cougars continued play at CSU Pueblo on Saturday with a pair of seven inning doubleheaders at Rawlings Field. After falling 7-4 in the first contest of the day, CCU bounced back beautifully on the back of a complete game victory from
Jake Gimbel to claim an important 5-3 win over the hosts.
GAME ONE
Jonny Tewinkle got his team started out the right way with a solo home run to right centerfield in the second. The Thunderwolves quickly responded though, scoring a pair in the second and three in the third to take a 5-1 lead.
Aaron Morgan got into a pitch and launched it over the right field wall in the fourth for a solo homer of his own to tighten the gap. Two more runs from the hosts made it 7-2, but the Cougars did not give up.
Ross Panlasigui singled in a run in the seventh, and another run came home on a
Kade Carney groundout, but in the end the Pack came away with a 7-4 victory.
Brady Ritzmann went five innings with a pair of strikeouts, and
Garrett Sinfield had a solid sixth inning with no hits allowed. Morgan and Tewinkle paced the offense with their solo homers.
GAME TWO
The hosts got on the board first in the second contest, but CCU answered immediately.
Gavin Acosta doubled in two runs to give his team the lead in the second as CCU started to gain momentum.
William Brassil blasted a two-run homer to right field in the third as the lead grew to 4-1.
A run in the fifth from CSUP was followed by an RBI fielder's choice from Carney for a 5-2 lead. A run in the sixth was not enough for the hosts as Colorado Christian closed out a low scoring affair with lights out pitching and effective hitting for a 5-2 victory.
Gimbel was splendid on the mound, hurling the complete seven innings with just three runs allowed and five strikeouts. The graduate student walked just two batters while inducing 8 flyouts and 7 groundouts on 110 pitches thrown in a fantastic showing. Brassil and Acosta led the offensive efforts with a pair of RBI each in the series' third game.
The Cougars will go for the series split to close their trip to Pueblo April 14 with game four set for 12 p.m. MST at Rawlings Field.
