COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Scott Martinez with two-for-three with two runs and Colin Cicere struck out five batters as the University of Colorado Colorado Springs earned the first series sweep in program history in a 6-1 victory against New Mexico Highlands at Spurgeon Field. The Mountain Lions (21-18, 16-12 RMAC) are alone in third in the conference standings with eight games left in the conference season, and one game behind Regis.

UCCS and New Mexico Highlands were scoreless through the first two innings. The Mountain Lions broke through in the third with three runs after Bryan Chapin led off the inning with a walk and scored on a single from Zach Hall. Hall stole second, but the throw from the catcher was late and wide, which allowed Scott Martinez to score the second run. Hall advanced to third on the error, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Efrain Medina to right field. UCCS added a run in the fourth from Jamie Crabtree on a single from Chapin for a 4-0 lead.

Martinez and Hall scored their second runs of the day in the fifth inning as UCCS pushed the lead to 6-0, but the Mountain Lions went down in order in the sixth and eighth innings. Cicere pitched the first seven innings and allowed no runs for the second time this season. The Mountain Lions turned a double play with runners on the corners in the top of the eighth to keep the shutout, but a leadoff double for the Cowboys would score in the ninth to break the shutout.

Cicere improved to 7-1 and lowered his earned run average by 0.64 to 4.96 today. Martinez finished with his seventh multi-hit game of the season and the first since April 3, at Colorado School of Mines. Efrain Medina recorded two RBIs, both on sacrifice flies.

UCCS will travel on Tuesday for a single nine-inning game at 3 p.m., against Northern Colorado. The Bears (14-19) went 1-2 against MSU Denver this weekend.