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UCCS Athletics

Faragallah_Aaron
Isaiah J. Downing
5
Colorado Mesa CMU 12-2, 9-1 RMAC
6
Winner UCCS UCCS 8-4, 4-4 RMAC
Colorado Mesa CMU
12-2, 9-1 RMAC
5
Final
6
UCCS UCCS
8-4, 4-4 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Colorado Mesa CMU 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 10 4
UCCS UCCS 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 6 9 0

W: Rytz, JJ (1-0) L: A. Durbano (1-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

UCCS Closes Out Series in Walk-Off Fashion Against No. 5 CMU, 6-5

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team wins Sunday's game in walk-off fashion against No. 5 Colorado Mesa University as the Mountain Lions take the Mavericks into extra innings for their 6-5 win inside Mountain Lion Park.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP: 
Final: UCCS 6, CMU 5
Records: UCCS (8-4, 4-4 RMAC), CMU (12-2, 9-1 RMAC)
Location: Mountain Lion Park | Colorado Springs, Colo.
All-Time Series: UCCS trails in the all-time series with a 5-13 record against Colorado Mesa.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Graduate student Matt McDermott gave the Mountain Lions the first lead of the game by sending a single up the middle to score redshirt junior Evan Richards who found his way on with a double in the right center gap, giving UCCS the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
• Two innings later in the top of the third, CMU tallied their first runs of the game by driving in four Mavericks to take the lead. A leadoff walk initiated the first baserunner as three consecutive hits followed including a three-run home run from Tyler Parker to bring the score to 4-1 coming out of the top of the third.
• The Mountain Lions came back in the home half of the fourth to slim down the Maverick lead as Ryan Schmidt circled around to score off a Walker Rumsey swinging bunt to bring the score within two runs.
• UCCS starting pitcher Jonathan Cowles was able to work out of the four-run third inning and capture some momentum as the redshirt junior held the Mavericks to only one run and five hits to help keep UCCS in the ballgame before his departure in the eighth inning.
• In the sixth inning, the Mountain Lions matched CMU's one run from the top half of the inning as a sac bunt from Schmidt and sacrifice fly from Kiichi Sato brought in the speedy Luis Samorano to bring the score back within two runs, 5-3.
• Down two runs through seven innings, the Mountain Lions went to their bullpen as redshirt junior Hayden Salverda shutdown the Mavericks once again with one inning of work to keep the game within reach into the ninth inning.
• With the scoreboard still reading 5-3, UCCS called upon their bullpen once again as JJ Rytz entered the ballgame to start the top of the ninth. Just as Salverda did in the eighth, Rytz followed suit to hold the Mavericks scoreless as the Mountain Lion infield locked it down with three groundball putouts to head into the bottom half of the ninth.
• UCCS' number nine hitter Sato led off the bottom of the ninth as he reached base off a groundball to third that CMU threw away, giving Sato a free pass and bringing the tying run to the plate. With a runner on first and no outs, head coach Dave Hajek turned to Aaron Faragallah to pinch hit.
• Calm, cool, and collective, Faragallah stepped to the plate and worked the count to 1-1 where he loaded up and sent the next pitch opposite field over the right center field fence to tie the game 5-5 with a two-run home run, sending it to extra innings.   
• After a quick 10th inning and another scoreless outing by JJ Rytz, redshirt junior Joseph Harris entered in the 11th to retire the side and give the Mountain Lions a walk-off opportunity.
• With a game tying home run under his belt, Faragallah once again delivered in crunch time by starting the bottom of the 11th inning with a leadoff double that rolled to the fence in left center, placing the game-winning run on second.
• The Mountain Lions then made it tough on themselves as the Mavericks forced two outs to bring up Jaeden Hegmann who entered the batter's box with Faragallah still in scoring position at second base.
• Hegmann and CMU's Anthony Durbano went toe-to-toe to have a seven-pitch at-bat that left Hegmann in a 1-2 pitcher's count.
• After fouling off three consecutive pitches to stay alive, Hegmann prevailed as he kept his hands back long enough to place a single over the shortstop's head and send Faragallah home for the walk-off win in extra innings, 6-5.
 
STATS FROM GAME ONE
• Jonathan Cowles went a full seven innings allowing five runs off nine hits with five strikeouts in the no decision.
• JJ Rytz records his first win of the season with two full innings pitched with no runs and just one hit allowed.
• Aaron Faragallah posts two's across the board as he finished 2-for-2 with two RBI, two runs scored, a double, and a two-run home run.
• Walker Rumsey and Matt McDermott each notched an RBI off two hits with Rumsey going 2-for-4 and McDermott going 2-for-5.
 
BEYOND THE BOX:
• Head Coach Dave Hajek earned his 97th career win on Sunday as he sits just three wins away from 100 wins.
• The Mountain Lions turned in 22 extra base hits on the weekend including 12 doubles, one triple, and nine home runs.
• UCCS now ranks second in the RMAC with a .690 slugging percentage and 35 home runs.
• Jaeden Hegmann still leads the team with a .435 batting average and 20 hits.
• Kiichi Sato sits in a close second with a .429 average as he leads the team with 17 RBI and seven home runs.

UP NEXT:
UCCS returns back home on Friday, Mar. 26 to host New Mexico Highlands and Colorado School of Mines for a pod weekend. The Mountain Lions will play the first game of the pod with an 11 a.m. game against Colorado School of Mines on Friday.
 
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.
 
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