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UCCS Athletics

Hajek
Isaiah J. Downing

PREVIEW | Baseball Hosts First Ranked Opponent of the Year in #14 Dixie State

3/10/2020 3:00:00 PM

By: Jake Wise - Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant
This Week's Matchup
  • The University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team will be hosting the currently ranked #14 Dixie State University Trailblazers in a four-game series at Mountain Lion Park this weekend.
  • Friday, March 13 will feature the first game of the series, which is slated to start at 3 p.m.
  • Saturday, March 14 will include the usual doubleheader, with the game scheduled for 12 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
  • The series finale will be played on Sunday, March 15 at 12 p.m.
Game Coverage Last Time Out
  • UCCS swept Colorado Christian University in their first conference series over the weekend, giving them an 11-6 overall record and a 4-0 RMAC record. In the four games, UCCS scored 30 runs off 49 hits, including 13 doubles, one triple and three home runs.
  • Jake Anderson had a great weekend at the plate for UCCS, going 8-for-16 with two doubles and three RBI to finish the series with a .500 batting average.
  • The Mountain Lion pitching staff performed well in the series as they finished with a combined ERA of 4.50 and 25 total strikeouts.
  • Game one of the series was a low scoring pitching duel as neither team was able to string together many hits. Daniel Silva got the complete game win after throwing only 97 pitches in his start. CCU drew first blood with a solo home run in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. UCCS answered in the bottom half of that inning with a two-run double from Evan Richards to take a 2-1 lead. After the Mountain Lions added one more in the fourth off a Walker Rumsey RBI single, CCU tied things up in the fifth with a two-run single.
  • After three scoreless innings leading up to the ninth, UCCS was given a walk-off opportunity. Richards singled to lead things off and managed to advance to third off a Rumsey single and a Matt McDermott fielder's choice. Then during Matt Berg's at bat, a ball in the dirt got away from the CCU catcher and Richards was able to score, giving UCCS the walk-off win 4-3.
  • Saturday's first game started with UCCS scoring in the second off a John Mallon single to take the lead, 1-0. CCU then put up five in the third off a double and pair of home runs to take a 5-1 lead. After scoring one in the third, UCCS came back with five runs of their own in the fourth off an RBI single from McDermott and a trifecta of home runs from Jaeden Hegmann, Michael Bennin and Richards, giving UCCS a 7-5 lead. The Mountain Lions would add two more runs in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, to take home the 9-5 win.
  • The afternoon matchup on Saturday featured more heroics in the late stages. CCU was held scoreless through the first five innings, while UCCS had scored two runs in that time. The Cougars then exploded for six runs in the sixth off six hits and one UCCS error to take the lead, 6-2 with one inning to go.
  • The seventh was an unbelievable series of hits and errors which resulted in a five run, three-hit inning for the Mountain Lions, the last three of which were unearned due to some physical and mental errors committed by the Cougars. The walk-off was credited to Clarke as he reached by fielder's choice, but CCU was unable to get an out on the play which allowed McDermott to score and win the game for UCCS.
  • Sunday's game was clearer cut as UCCS led from the start and never relinquished it. The Mountain Lions scored two in the first and one in the fourth to take an early 3-1 lead. CCU answered with one in the fifth and two in the sixth, all of which were nullified by two UCCS runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to maintain the lead, 8-4. CCU tried to make a comeback in the ninth as they scored three runs to cut the deficit to 10-7, but UCCS closed it out and effectively completed series sweep.
RMAC Record/Standings
  • UCCS is tied for the best record in the RMAC with three other teams, all of whom started the conference season with 4-0 records. Dixie State, Colorado Mesa University and Colorado School of Mines all swept their first conference matchups to start the RMAC season 4-0.
The Series
  • UCCS played their first games against DSU last season and came away empty handed. UCCS has an 0-5 record against the Trailblazers, with their most recent loss coming in the RMAC Tournament last season. The Mountain Lions will look to right the ship and add to their current win streak starting on Friday.
Scouting Report
  • DSU has a 15-3 overall record and a 4-0 RMAC record to this point in the 2020 season. The Trailblazers are batting .325 as a team this season and have racked up 175 runs scored off 198 hits, 43 doubles, four triples and 23 home runs. DSU also has a team on base percentage of .434 and a combined slugging percentage of .522.
  • Jake Engel leads the team in batting average (.458), hits (27) runs scored (27), doubles (six, tied), home runs (six) and RBI (26). Tanner Harper and Tyson Fisher rank second and third on the team in batting average as they are hitting .408 and .365, respectively. Both Harper and Fisher are tied for second on the team in RBI (17), while Fisher has the second most home runs for DSU with four.
  • The DSU pitching staff has a combined ERA of 2.69, 137 total strikeouts, and have allowed 71 runs (46 earned) off 134 hits this season.
  • Justin Dunham leads the starting pitchers in ERA with a 1.52 this season. He as allowed 10 runs (four earned) off 21 hits this season. Tevita Gerber leads the team in wins (4-0) and strikeouts (28) this season and has a 2.76 ERA.
Hot Takes
  • UCCS is currently riding a nine-game win streak, the longest active streak in the RMAC.
  • The Mountain Lions finished their series against CCU with a team batting average of .371, bringing their season batting average to .307. UCCS has scored 104 runs off 174 hits with 41 doubles and 17 home runs this season.
  • Matt Berg went 6-for-17 over the weekend with a double and four RBI. His six hits and four RBI were the second most on the team for the series. He is now batting .397 with 27 hits and 18 RBI, all of which lead the team.
  • Matt McDermott also tallied six hits in the series, going 6-for-15 with a double, the team's only triple and three RBI. He also had a team high nine runs scored. McDermott ranks second on the team in RBI (17), third in hits (24) and fourth in batting average (.358).
  • Jake Anderson now ranks second on the team in batting average at .373 after batting .500 over the weekend. He also ranks second in hits with 25 and leads the team with six doubles.
  • Jaeden Hegmann and Evan Richards both tallied five hits with a home run over the weekend, with Hegmann hitting his first home run of the year and Richards driving in a team high five RBI thanks to two doubles.
  • Michael Bennin added his third home run of the season on Saturday.
  • Luis Samorano made the most of his one start, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and one RBI in Sunday's series finale
  • Daniel Silva picked up his first win of the season on Friday after throwing a 97-pitch complete game to start the series. Silva allowed three runs (two earned) off six hits with five strikeouts in his start. He now has a 2.77 ERA and 26 strikeouts this season.
  • Jonathan Cowles (3-0) and Brian Marquez (3-0) picked up their third wins of the season against CCU. Cowles now has a 2.70 ERA and 30 strikeouts to lead the UCCS starters this season, while Marquez sports a 4.68 ERA.
  • Braden Barker earned his first win of the season on Saturday in a relief effort of Christian Manmano. Barker tossed a scoreless seventh inning to close things out for UCCS.
RMAC Leaders
  • UCCS ranks first in the RMAC in stolen bases (33), third in batting average (.307) and doubles (41), fourth in runs scored (104), hits (174), home runs (17) and slugging percentage (.481), and fifth in on base percentage (.377).
  • Matt Berg ranks second in the RMAC in hits (27, tied), third in RBI (18), sixth in home runs (four, tied) and ninth in batting average (.397).
  • Matt McDermott ranks second in the RMAC in stolen bases (eight), fourth in RBI (17, tied), fifth in runs scored (18, tied) and seventh in hits (24, tied).
  • Jake Anderson ranks fourth in the RMAC in doubles (six, tied) and sixth in hits (25).
  • Walker Rumsey is tied for the most triples in the RMAC with two.
  • Matt Clarke ranks fourth in the RMAC in stolen bases with five.
  • Jonathan Cowles ranks second in the RMAC in innings pitched (30), third in opponent's batting average (.196), fourth in wins (three, tied), sixth in ERA (2.70) and strikeouts (30, tied) and eight in runs allowed (10, tied).
  • Daniel Silva ranks third in batters struck out looking (11, tied), fifth in earned runs allowed (eight, tied) and eighth in ERA (2.77, tied) and runs allowed (10, tied).
  • Brian Marquez ranks fourth in the RMAC in wins (three, tied) and eighth in opponent's batting average (.213) and batters struck out looking (eight, tied).
  • Creede Jeffers is tied for the most saves in the RMAC with three.
Weather
  • The forecast for this weekend, March 13-15 shows high temperatures of 34, 47 and 57 degrees for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Friday is predicting cold conditions with a high chance of snow and wind. Saturday shows partly cloudy skies and winds up to 10 miles per hour, while Sunday shows cloudy skies and winds up to 13 miles per hour.
  • For any schedule changes due to weather, stay tuned to gomountainlions.com.
UCCS Under Coach Dave Hajek
  • The Mountain Lions are now 89-80 under coach Hajek and have a 14-2 all-time record in their opening conference series. As Dixie State comes into town this week, coach Hajek will look to lead his team to their first ever win over the Trailblazers while adding to their nine-game win streak. DSU will also be the first ranked team UCCS has faced this season, giving UCCS an opportunity to make a statement with some wins.
Upcoming Matchup
  • UCCS will be on the road next weekend in Grand Junction, Colo. taking on RMAC rival and currently ranked #16 Colorado Mesa University in a four-game series.
  • Friday, March 20 will feature a game at 6:05 p.m.
  • Saturday, March 21 will feature two games at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively.
  • Sunday, March 22 will showcase the series finale at 12 p.m.
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