COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team completed the pod sweep on Sunday after taking down New Mexico Highlands University 13-9 and Colorado School of Mines 17-5. With the Mountain Lions' win against NMHU, head coach Dave Hajek recorded his 100^th career win at the helm for UCCS.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP: 
Final: Game 1: UCCS 13, NMHU 9 | Game 2: UCCS 14, CSM 15
Records: UCCS (12-4, 8-4 RMAC), NMHU (6-14, 4-12 RMAC), CSM (2-14, 2-14 RMAC)
Location: Mountain Lion Park | Colorado Springs, Colo.
All-Time Series: UCCS trails in the all-time series against CSM with a 6-9 record. The Mountain Lions lead the all-time series against NMHU with an 18-4 record.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED | GAME ONE:
• It took three innings for any offense to get going as UCCS starting pitcher Christian Manmano and NMHU starting pitcher Brady Salyards traded off scoreless innings.
• Manmano held the Cowboys scoreless and hitless through the first three innings of play as the redshirt senior fanned five batters and pitched a 1-2-3 second and third inning.
• NMHU broke the scoreless tie in the top half of the fourth with the Cowboys' first run and first hit of the game coming by way of a Gaylan Young solo home run to start the inning. Manmano was able to register one out by striking out the next batter but NMHU put a runner on from a UCCS error as a two-run home run followed by a double ended Manmano's day on the mound. One more run came across with an RBI single as redshirt Hayden Salverda closed the inning out with NMHU leading 4-0.
• In the home half of the fourth the Mountain Lions answered back by cutting the deficit in half as Evan Richards laced a ball to the right center gap to score Walker Rumsey. Richards advanced to third on a throwing error from the NMHU outfield as he later scored on a McDermott groundout to bring the score to 4-2.
• The Cowboys tacked on two more runs with one in the fifth and one and the sixth as Jeremy Onken made a relief appearance in the sixth who helped hold off the Cowboys through three innings of work. The Mountain Lions then geared up for what would be a nine-run inning in the bottom of the sixth.
• UCCS batted around in the lineup as McDermott drove in the first runs of the inning with a two-run bomb to left field. That was the only beginning as the Mountain Lions proceeded with four straight singles including an RBI single from Hegmann and a sacrifice fly from Tyler Richardson for another two runs. The lineup made its way back around to Luis Samorano who split the left center gap for a three RBI triple as Richards went deep fly to right center for an additional two RBI to take the 11-6 lead from NMHU.
• The five-run lead was not enough for the Mountain Lions has Hegmann notched another RBI in the bottom of the seventh with a sacrifice fly as McDermott kept swinging a hot bat by burning the center field for an RBI triple in the bottom of the eighth to extend the lead to 13-6 heading into the top of the ninth.
• The Cowboys tried to make things interesting by battling back with three runs in the ninth but freshman Garrett Shriver made an appearance with two outs in the inning to stop the Cowboys momentum and bag the save.
 
STATS FROM GAME ONE
• Head Coach Dave Hajek tallied his 100^th career win with the Mountain Lions.
• Jeremy Onken gets the win and improves to 2-0 on the year as he goes 3.0 IP, allowing one run off one hit with three strikeouts.
• Freshman Garret Shriver makes an appearance in the ninth inning to notch his first collegiate save.
• The Mountain Lions outhit the Cowboys 15-11 in the contest as UCCS had six extra base hits including two doubles, two triples, and two home runs.
• Matt McDermott finished the day 3-for-5 with a triple and a home run as he recorded a team high four RBI.
• Luis Samorano and Evan Richards each knocked in three RBI as Samorano had himself a game going 2-for-2 with a triple and three runs scored. Richards turned in a 2-for-5 game with a home run and double as he scored twice.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED | GAME TWO:
• Game two fell witness to an offensive outburst as the Mountain Lions scored in five of their eight innings to down Colorado School of Mines 17-5.
• Redshirt junior Jonathan Cowles pitched effectively and held the Orediggers in check for a full six innings as no outfield gap was safe from the Mountain Lion offense.
• In what was an impressive day at the plate for Matt McDermott, it would start with an infield single in the bottom of the first which led to a string of singles that ended with Jaeden Hegmann who drove McDermott in for the 1-0 UCCS lead after one inning of play.  
• CSM brought the game back to a tie in the top of the second with a sacrifice bunt setting the Orediggers up for runners on second and third as an infield groundout was enough to bring the tying run across.
• But UCCS' day at the plate was only getting started as the Mountain Lions answered back in the bottom of the second with five more runs, all of which came on two outs. Redshirt freshman Nate Heflebower got the two out inning started with an infield single as a Luis Samorano hit by pitch followed by four consecutive hits led to a quick five runs across. Evan Richards hit one of his three doubles in the game to drive in two RBI as McDermott registered an RBI single. Hegmann then drove in two RBI of his own off a single to right field. At the end of the second inning, UCCS held a 6-1 lead over the Orediggers.
• CSM continued to put runs across as they posted four consecutive one-run innings from the fourth through the seventh inning, but the Orediggers could not contain the UCCS offense as the Mountain Lions continued to increase their lead.
• In the bottom of the fourth, clean up hitter Jake Anderson hit an absolutely no doubter three-run home run that landed on top of the hill in left field to bring the UCCS lead to 9-2.
• After CSM cut the deficit by one run in the top of the fourth, it was Samorano and McDermott who matched the Orediggers' run plus an additional run as each of them knocked in a run off an RBI single to build on their lead 11-3 through five innings of play.
• The Orediggers tallied two more runs with one in the sixth and one in the seventh while holding UCCS scoreless to bring the game to 11-5.
• With the six-run lead, UCCS was still not satisfied as the Mountain Lions went on to drive in six more runs in the eighth inning. Six hits helped fuel the six-run inning with Richards leading the way by driving a two-RBI double to right field. Matt Berg also registered a double by finding the right center gap for an RBI with Heflebower and Samorano recording an RBI single in the inning. Redshirt junior Jake Sellinger joined in on the scoring as well by hitting a sacrifice fly to center field for his first RBI of the season.
 
STATS FROM GAME TWO
• Jonathan Cowles records his first win of the season after a six full innings of work. Cowles allowed four runs with three being earned runs while notching four strikeouts.
• UCCS doubled CSM's hits by registered 22 hits in the ballgame including four doubles and one home run.
• Evan Richards was responsible for three of the four doubles after going 3-for-6 with a team high four RBI.
• Eight different Mountain Lions notched at least one RBI.
• Matt McDermott recorded a team high four runs scored after having a stellar day at the plate by going 5-for-6 with two RBI.
• Jake Anderson and Jaeden Hegmann each finished game two with three RBI as Anderson registers a monster day by going 4-for-5 with a home run and three runs scored, while Hegmann finishes the day by going 2-for-4.
 
BEYOND THE BOX:
• UCCS sits in fourth place in the conference standings with Colorado Mesa University in first (16-2, 13-1 RMAC), Metropolitan State University Denver in second (17-2, 13-2 RMAC), and Regis University in third (15-5, 11-5 RMAC).
• As a team, the Mountain Lions rank second in the conference in batting average (.366) and slugging percentage (.655).
• Evan Richards leads the team and ranks second in the RMAC with 10 doubles on the year. He also leads the team and ranks sixth in the conference with 25 RBI.
• Jake Anderson, Kiichi Sato, and Richards all share the team lead with seven home runs and each are tied for the third most in the RMAC.
• Jaeden Hegmann still holds the team lead in batting average as he's hitting .443 on the year, which ranks seventh in the RMAC.

UP NEXT:
UCCS prepares for their first conference road matchup in over two weeks as the Mountain Lions head to Denver, Colo. to face No. 18 ranked MSU Denver. The four-game series will start on Thursday, Apr. 1 with first pitch set for6 p.m. inside the MSUD Regency Athletic Complex.
 
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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.