COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team fell short of taking game one on Friday against No. 5 Colorado Mesa University as the Mavericks walked away with a 7-4 win inside Mountain Lion Park.  
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP: 
Final: UCCS 4, CMU 7
Records: UCCS (7-2, 3-2 RMAC), CMU (10-1, 7-0 RMAC)
Location: Mountain Lion Park | Colorado Springs, Colo.
All-Time Series: UCCS trails in the all-time series with a 4-11 record against Colorado Mesa.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• UCCS starting pitcher Daniel Silva and the Mountain Lion defense came away unscathed in the top of the first inning after Silva put his glove on a line drive to double up CMU and end the top half of the first.
• The Mountain Lions' home half of the first saw an early UCCS lead as Walker Rumsey drew a walk to start the inning. The lefty swinging Evan Richards came up and grounded out to first to move Rumsey over to scoring position. Matt McDermott joined Rumsey on base and moved into scoring position after a CMU error by shortstop Chase Hamilton gave McDermott a free pass as he stole second base to put runners on second and third. Aaron Faragallah came up with two outs to hit a clutch single up the middle that would score Rumsey and McDermott to give UCCS the lead 2-0.
• CMU began to find their rhythm at the plate as they brought one across in the second inning with a double and single that led to a Caleb Farmer groundout to shortstop for an RBI and 2-1 score in favor of UCCS.
• UCCS maintained their lead through the fourth inning after a run scored in the third and fourth put the Mountain Lions in a 4-1 advantage. Richards provided a solo shot in the bottom of the third as a pair of doubles in the fourth inning from Ryan Schmidt followed by Kiichi Sato gave the Mountain Lions a commanding lead heading into the fifth inning.
• With Silva only allowing one run going into the fifth, CMU came back with three runs to bring themselves back into the game. Jonathan Gonzalez got the inning going with a single at Silva who could not gather the ball in time as a bad throw placed Gonzalez on second.
• Silva was able to recover by retiring the next two batters for a quick two outs, but the Mavericks strung together three hits as a single and two doubles brought three across for a 4-4 tie to end the top of the fifth.
• From that point, the Mountain Lions struggled to find their offense for the remainder of the game as CMU starting pitcher Andrew Morris settled in to throw the next five innings scoreless by allowing just two hits.
• As CMU's Morris held UCCS' offense in check, the Maverick offense continued to tack on runs with another two out RBI coming across in the sixth inning off a single down the right field line.
• After Silva's day came to an end in the eighth inning, Joseph Harris came in for a short relief appearance to throw a scoreless eighth before a leadoff double followed by a triple ended his day in the ninth inning. Matt Geoffrion then came in for the Mountain Lions as he gave up a single to left that brought across the second Maverick run in the ninth inning, bringing the final score to 7-4.

 
STATS FROM GAME ONE
• Daniel Silva records his first loss of the season (2-1) after going a complete seven innings of work allowing five runs off 12 hits with five strikeouts.
• The Mountain Lions were outhit 15-8 in the ballgame while UCCS stranded six runners.
• Eight different Mountain Lions registered a hit on Friday with Matt McDermott, Ryan Schmidt, and Kiichi Sato recording a double.
• Aaron Farahgallah drove in a team high two RBI after finishing 1-for-4.
 
BEYOND THE BOX:
• Evan Richards hit his fifth home run of the season to tie for the team lead with Jake Anderson and Kiichi Sato.
• Matt McDermott hit his team leading fifth double of the season on Friday.

UP NEXT:
The Mountain Lions will be back inside Mountain Lion Park on Saturday, Mar. 20 for a double-header against Colorado Mesa with first pitch set for 12 p.m.
 
SOCIAL:
Twitter - @GoMountainLions
Instagram - @gomountainlions 
Facebook – Go Mountain Lions
 
As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.