Lakewood, CO - The Cougars closed out their opening series of the season on Sunday against the Rangers from Northwestern Oklahoma State University. It was a back-and-forth game between the two teams filled with home runs and stellar pitching, but in the end the Rangers came away with the win by a final score of 14-10.
 
Zachary Hill got the start on the mound for the Cougars on day three of the series, but had a rough go in the opening innings, only pitching through two innings giving up seven hits. The Cougars struggled at the batter's box in the first three innings getting shutout against NWOSU and trailing 6-0 at the end of the third.
 
Colorado Christian came out to a huge rally at the bottom of the fourth with Lukas Hinze and Nathan Mensen getting on base and Gregory Rangel getting on base on an error. Aidan Welsh stepped up to the plate and sent the ball deep to left field for a two run RBI double to get the Cougars on the board. As the bottom half of the inning went on, two more runs would come across for the Cougars cutting the lead down to two.
 
Matt Ramstead made his way to the mound for Hill and performed well, only allowing one run to come in for NWOSU in the fifth inning, and throwing out a crucial strikeout with the bases loaded to close out the top of the inning. The sophomore Rangel brought in two more runs at his at bat in the fifth, then Welsh hit a deep ball to left field watching it go behind the scoreboard for a two-run home run to take the lead at the end of the fifth inning 8-7.
 
Going into the seventh inning, the Cougars would tally two more runs with Nathan Mensen hitting a two-run home run to left field again for the Cougars to increase their lead 10-7. The lead wouldn't last long for the hosts, as the Rangers loaded up the bases and hit a deep home run to right field for a grand slam and two more runs later in the same inning to retake the lead 14-10. Both teams battled hard in the closing innings, especially in the ninth trying to rally by getting runners on third and first, but a ground ball double play ended the game with NWOSU in front 14-10 and splitting the series.
 
Aidan Welsh had himself a day at the ballpark with four RBI and a home run, while Matt Ramstead pitched 3.1 innings only allowing one run to come in and throwing two strikeouts.
 
The Cougars will travel to Florida to take on Saint Leo University for their next series on February 6 with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. MST.