COLORADO SPRINGS Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team earns the Saturday sweep of Colorado Christian University with a pair of wins by scores of 9-5 and 7-6, respectively. After pulling away in the first game with two innings to go, UCCS gets yet another walk-off win in the second game to earn the third victory of the series. The Mountain Lions are now 10-6 on the season and 3-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
UCCS totaled 23 hits in the two games including five double and three home runs.
Jake Anderson led the way for UCCS, going 5-for-9 with a double and one RBI.
Matt Berg and
Evan Richards also contributed to the UCCS hit parade, going 4-for-8 with three RBI and 3-for-7 with a double, a home run and three RBI, respectively.
Brian Marquez (3-0) got the win for UCCS in the early game, going six complete innings and allowing five runs (all earned) on seven hits with three strikeouts.
Braden Barker earned his first win of the season in game two of the day in a relief effort of
Christian Manmano, who went five innings and allowed five runs (three earned) off seven hits with four strikeouts.
In game one, UCCS struck first with an RBI double for
John Mallon to take a 1-0 lead after two innings. CCU answered right back in the third with five runs off five hits including two home runs to take the 5-1 lead. However, the Mountain Lions would not go away as they scored five of their own thanks to a trifecta of home runs from
Jaeden Hegmann,
Michael Bennin and Richards, with Richards hitting a two-run bomb. UCCS would add one more in the fifth off an RBI single from Mallon and one in the sixth off a
Matt Clarke RBI single to seal the win, 9-5.
Game two was where things really got exciting as UCCS would earn yet another walk-off win. The Mountain Lions scored first in the bottom of the second off an RBI single from Anderson to take an early 1-0 lead. Manmano kept the Cougars in check through the five innings as he did not allow a run. UCCS added another in the fourth thanks to an RBI single from Berg to take a 2-0 lead.
However, the Cougars found their bats in the sixth, scoring six runs off six hits with one UCCS error to take a 6-2 lead with only 1 ½ innings left to play. After holding CCU to a scoreless seventh, UCCS had one more chance to earn this win.
The seventh got started with a double from Anderson, who later scored on a passed ball to cut the deficit to 6-3. The next batter was Richards, who delivered with an RBI single to make it 6-4.
Walker Rumsey then reached by fielder's choice, followed by a walk from
Matt McDermott, bringing Berg to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. Berg then hit a single to the third basemen, who tried to get McDermott at second but was too late while also making a poor throw, which allowed two runs to cross the plate and tied the game at 6-6. That brought Clarke to the plate, who smacked a ball up the middle. The CCU shortstop attempted to get Berg at second, but again was too late, which allowed McDermott to score with ease and lifted UCCS to their second walk-off win of this series.
The series finale between UCCS and CCU will be tomorrow, March 8 at Mountain Lion Park. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.
