POMONA, Calif. – After a gut-wrenching loss on Friday evening, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team split Saturday's double header against California Polytechnic State University, Pomona.

Game one saw UCCS' (1-2) first win of the 2020 season as the Mountain Lions out-hit Cal Poly Pomona (2-1) 8-2 with starting pitcher Brian Marquez claiming his first win in a Mountain Lion uniform.

The game didn't see its first run come across until the fifth inning where Walker Rumsey was the anchor of three consecutive hits that started with a John Mallon and Matt Berg single that placed runners on first and third. Rumsey then roped a double to left field that easily scored Mallon as the quick moving Berg scored from first base to make the score 2-0.

In the home half of the fifth, the Broncos started off with a solo home run to cut into the Mountain Lions' lead 1-2. But Marquez was able to dial back in and retire six consecutive batters to keep UCCS' lead into the seventh inning. The junior finished the day with six complete innings while only allowing two hits and one earned run.

Moving into the top of the seventh, the Mountain Lions brought an insurance run across with the help of a CPP miscue. After Michael Bennin and Mallon singled to get two runners on, Bennin got a good read and stole third base to position himself only 90 feet away from a two-run lead. Berg then grounded to third base where the third baseman threw the ball away which brought in Bennin for the 3-1 UCCS lead.

From there, Creede Jeffers took over in the bottom of the seventh where the redshirt freshman threw three innings of shutout baseball as four of the nine outs were way of strikeout, securing the save and Mountain Lion win.

In game two, it was a defensive heavy match-up as the Broncos came away with a 2-1 win. UCCS had a hard time finding a rhythm offensively as they stranded three runners in scoring position and were out-hit by Cal Poly 9-6.

UCCS kept the series pattern going by scoring first for the third straight game. This time the Mountain Lions wasted no time and put up a run in the first inning thanks to an RBI single from Jake Anderson as he drove in Berg for the quick 1-0 lead.

With a 1-0 lead, UCCS starting pitcher Christian Manmano went to work as he fanned four batters in the first two innings and held the Broncos scoreless. Then in the third inning, CPP strung together three straight singles to tie up the ball game 1-1. With a runner on third, the Broncos went to situational hitting as a deep flyball led to a sacrifice fly which gave Cal Poly Pomona the 2-1 lead.

The Mountain Lions came back around in the fifth inning where Matt McDermott singled and advanced on a wild pitch to place himself into scoring position at second base. Berg then stepped up to single into left field where McDermott try to score but was thrown out by the left fielder to keep the score 2-1 in favor of the Broncos.

After the fifth, Cal Poly Pomona kept UCCS contained as Connor Tousignant pitched two shutout innings to preserve the win and save. CPP's Drew Atherton came away with the win after seven full innings with six strikeouts and only giving up six hits and one earned run. Manmano was credited with the loss after seven innings of work with four strikeouts and giving up two earned runs off nine hits.

UCCS and CPP played two nine-inning games today and is set to play the final game of the series as a seven-inning game. First pitch is set for 12 p.m. (MT) at Scolinos Field in Pomona, Calif.