COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In a special Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) showdown hosted by the Rocky Mountain Vibes at Security Service Field, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team set a new program record in hits as they defeated Metropolitan State University Denver 13-5 Thursday afternoon.
UCCS (24-15, 16-9 RMAC) erupted for 23 hits during Thursday's win to set a new program record for most hits in a single game. Included in the Mountain Lions 23 hits were six doubles and two triples, as every UCCS starter notched a hit with eight of the nine starters recording a multi-hit game.
Sophomore
Jonathan Cowles started on the mound for the Mountain Lions as he got off to a rough start in the game with the Roadrunners putting up five runs in the first two innings. Only one run came across in the first inning, but MSU Denver plated four runs in the second inning as MSU Denver recorded four of their six hits in the second inning.
The Mountain Lions responded with runs of their own in the first two innings as
Ryan Schmidt provided a sacrifice fly in the first to bring across one run. UCCS played a bit of small ball in the second inning to help setup bases loaded and come away with three runs as
Matthew Clarke recorded the only RBI of the inning off a hit by pitch, to bring the score to 4-5 in favor of the Roadrunners.
After allowing five runs in the first two innings, Cowles and the Mountain Lion defense went on to silence MSU Denver for the remainder of the game as Cowles registered his fourth win of the season in eight innings of work, while tallying seven strikeouts. In what ended up being a dominating performance by UCCS, Cowles came back to only allow one hit after the second inning with the Roadrunners going down one-two-three in six of the nine innings.
As for UCCS' offense, the Mountain Lions put runs on the board in eight of the nine innings as Schmidt and
Evan Richards did damage from the four and five spot in the lineup. Richards and Schmidt each went 3-for-4 on the day with two doubles each, as Richards knocked in two RBI and Schmidt driving in a team high three RBI.
With game one in the books, the remainder of the UCCS and MSU Denver series will move to Mountain Lion Park as games two and three will be played tomorrow starting at 12 p.m.
