ST. GEORGE, Utah – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team provided two late game rallies to fall just short to Dixie State University, as the Mountain Lions dropped both games at Bruce Hurst Field on Sunday afternoon.
In game one, it was runs in the later innings that put Dixie State ahead of UCCS in the 6-5 loss.
The Trailblazers jumped ahead 3-0 after a double scored one run in the third and another double scored two more runs in the fourth inning. Needing some runs on the board, UCCS answered back in the top of the sixth as
Jake Anderson drew a walk to set up
Evan Richards who delivered his eighth home run of the season to bring the score 3-2 in favor of DSU.
UCCS starting pitcher
Joe Slocum came close to closing out six full innings of work as he retired the first two Trailblazer batters in the sixth inning, but with two outs Slocum walked the next batter which set up a three-run inning for Dixie State. After a walk with two outs, back-to-back singles scored two runs while the third run scored on Mountain Lion miscues to make the score 6-2.
UCCS would not go down without a fight as they battled back in the top of the seventh. Three consecutive singles by
Austin Allen,
Matt Berg, and
Matt McDermott loaded up the bases for
Matthew Clarke who was able to bring Allen across with a sacrifice fly. Anderson later came up to rip a double down the left field line to bring in two more, as the Mountain Lions cut the Dixie State lead to one run. With Anderson representing the tying run on second with two outs in the seventh inning, UCCS fell just short of the Trailblazers at the final score of 6-5.
In game two, the Mountain Lions struck first and took their first lead of the series as Richards hit his second home run of the day to give UCCS the early 1-0 lead in the second inning. Dixie State retaliated with a solo home run of their own in the bottom half of the second, but Anderson went deep to left center for a two-run home run to give UCCS the 3-1 lead in the third inning.
From there, Dixie State scored 10 runs off seven hits, with six of those hits being extra base hits (two home runs and four doubles), over the span of three innings. UCCS starting pitcher
Colin Cicere was credited with nine of the runs as
Jon Sotto was credited with two. Dixie State's offensive explosion gave the Trailblazers an 11-3 lead heading into the top of the seventh inning.
With their back against the wall, the Mountain Lions created an offensive spark of their own to bring the game within reach. In a situation where UCCS needed base runners, it was
Henry Ryan (pinch-hitting for McDermott), Clarke, and
Walker Rumsey who all reached base and loaded the bases to start the seventh. This then brought up the hot hitting Anderson who delivered his second grand slam of the season to bring the game to 11-7. Still down by four runs, the Mountain Lions were not done as Richards kept the rally going with a single, followed by
Cody Norton reaching on a hard hit ball to third base to put runners on first and second.
John Mallon then delivered a laser towards the left field line that scored Richards and the speedy Norton for a two-RBI double, cutting into the Trailblazer lead to make it 11-9. Two straight strikeouts would follow to make it two outs in the seventh as Dixie State gave UCCS two free bases with a hit by pitch and a walk to load the bases up for
Tyler Matheny. Down 1-2 in the count, a pitch reaches too far inside and hits Matheny to keep the bases loaded and make the score now 11-10 with
Jake Anderson up to bat. A hitter who saw success earlier in the day going after the first pitch of the at bat, Anderson swung first pitch and drove an outside pitch opposite field where the right fielder was waiting underneath to make the final out of the ballgame.
The Mountain Lions out-hit the Trailblazers 12-8 in game two as Anderson finished 3-for-4 with six RBI and two home runs. On the day, UCCS out-hit Dixie State 18-17.
UCCS struggled to get out of innings in both games as the Mountain Lions allowed a combined 11 runs with two outs. Three of those runs came in the sixth inning of game one, as the other eight came across during the breakout third, fourth, and fifth innings of game two.
The first road conference series for UCCS will wrap up tomorrow morning as game four is scheduled for 11 a.m. in St. George, Utah.
