COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team wins the opening game of the conference series against New Mexico Highlands University in dominating fashion, as the Mountain Lions down the Cowboys 10-1 at Mountain Lion Park.

Sophomore pitcher Jonathan Cowles got the start for UCCS and recorded his second win of the season (2-6) as he gave up one run (unearned) and only four hits in seven full innings of work. Eric Neeley came in relief as he gave up not hits, no runs, and recorded one strikeout in two innings pitched.

Cowles' lights out pitching was backed by a dominating UCCS offense that was led by Matt Berg and Jake Anderson who went perfect on the day. Berg finished the day from the two-spot going 4-for-4 with four runs scored, one double, and one RBI. While Anderson ended game one going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and five RBI, as he went deep left field for a three-run home run.  

The Mountain Lions (15-12, 7-6 RMAC) got the game going quickly as they wasted no time putting up runs in the first inning. Matthew Clarke and Berg led the game off with back-to-back singles through the left side to setup the heavy hitting Anderson from the three-spot with no outs. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Anderson went deep fly to left center field to bring his team high RBI count to 33, and put the Mountain Lions up 3-0 in the first inning.

UCCS set the tone early and kept chipping away as they came back in the third inning to put up another four runs. Four different Mountain Lions notched an RBI in the inning as Clark got it going with a leadoff walk, followed by singles from both Berg and Anderson to bring Clarke across. Evan Richards got in on the action as he tattooed a ball to right center field to score Berg. Cody Norton and John Mallon then put balls in play as Norton skied a ball to right field to bring the third run across, and Mallon hit a hard ball on the ground to shortstop to tally the fourth RBI of the inning to give UCCS a 7-0 lead through three innings.

In the fourth and seventh inning, the Mountain Lions tacked on three more insurance runs with help from Berg, Anderson, and Norton who each bagged an RBI with a hit.

Cowles continued to keep the NMHU hitters off balance and guessing from beginning to end on Friday, as he registered four one-two-three innings in the ball game. The sophomore pitcher also threw less than 10 pitches in four of his seven innings pitched to make quick work of the Cowboys.

UCCS will go toe-to-toe with New Mexico Highlands on Saturday, Mar. 30 as they face-off in a double-header with game one slated to start at 12 p.m.