COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. – On the last game of the opening home series for the UCCS baseball team, the Mountain Lions fall short of a ninth inning comeback in 16-15 loss to the visiting St. Cloud State Huskies.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: UCCS 15, SCSU 16
Records: UCCS (4-10, 0-0 RMAC), SCSU (3-5, 0-0 NSIC)
Facility: Mountain Lion Park | Colorado Springs, Colo.
All-Time Series: With the loss today, the Mountain Lions have now split the all-time series with SCSU in only their second matchup bringing their record to 1-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The top of the SCSU order got to work early this afternoon as they plated one in the top of the first, but Dylan Grierson, the starting pitcher for the Mountain Lions, finished the inning strong and limited the damage.
- UCCS started to get things going in the bottom of the second inning as they loaded the bases with a single, a hit batter, and a walk. They were unable to manufacture any runs as the opposing starting pitcher was able to retire the next two Mountain Lion batters on strikes.
- After a rather pedestrian first two innings, the SCSU second baseman got just enough of a pitch from Grierson and landed one beyond the center field wall just left of the batter's eye giving the Huskies a 3-0 lead after they had plated one earlier in the third inning.
- The Mountain Lions found their way onto the scoreboard in the bottom half of the third when Aaron Faragallah lined a two out double into the left center gap to bring home Kit Wigington who reached on a single just before Faragallah stepped up to the plate.
- The Huskies would come out in the top of the fourth and extend their lead even further by scoring four runs to go up 9-1.
- During the Mountain Lions' turn at bat in the fourth frame, Tyler Richardson demolished a ball on the inner half of the plate deep down the left field line, leaving the question of whether it would stay fair or drift foul. As the third base umpire signaled a fair ball, Richardson flipped his bat to the dugout and started his jog around the bases.
- When he settled back down behind the plate in the top of the fifth, Richardson back-picked an aggressive runner on first base to record the third out of the inning and kept SCSU off the scoreboard.
- It was an eventful inning for both sides in the seventh inning as both teams tallied two-run home runs. Dylan Morace, who pinch-hit for Andrew Danko in the inning prior, smoked a ball over the fence in left center to keep the Mountain Lions within five runs of the lead.
- The same story continued in the eighth inning as both sides tallied four more runs to bring the score to a 15-10 Huskies lead. The Mountain Lion scoring came on the heels of a Jaeden Hegmann double that brought in Sato, Hegmann then coming around to score on a wild pitch, and Henry Ryan connecting on a pitch that soared over the scoreboard in left center.
- With SCSU leading by six going into the bottom of the ninth, a comeback seemed improbable. The Mountain Lions would not be deterred by the deficit as they clawed their way back into contention with Wigington driving the ball to the opposite field with the bases loaded, driving in two runs. Caleb Stubbings stepped in the box not long after with two outs in the inning and drove one over the fence for the three-run homerun to cut the SCSU lead to one with the scoreboard reading 16-15.
- After getting two runners on via a walk and a base hit, the Mountain Lions had an opportunity to bring in the tying and potential game-winning runs with Tyler Richardson at the plate. On a two-strike count, he sent one to the outfield gap but the ball was run down by the left fielder for the final out of the game, cutting the comeback short with the SCSU Huskies emerging victorious.
STATS FROM THE GAME
- Kiichi Sato stays hot as he tallies four hits in the ballgame, two of the four going for doubles.
- Including Sato, five Mountain Lions collected multi-hit games. The other four were Jaeden Hegmann, Caleb Stubbings, Tyler Richardson, and Kit Wigington.
- The Mountain Lion bats showed their strength again today putting up 15 runs in the game and also scored at least one run in each inning from the third to the ninth.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- With his seventh inning blast, Dylan Morace gets his first homerun on the year, his third for his Mountain Lion career.
- With four today, Kiichi Sato now has seven multi-hit games on the season and has scored eight runs in the last two games.
- Kit Wigington has now extended his hitting streak to seven games. Tyler Richardson also has extended his hitting streak to six games.
- Caleb Stubbings has provided a lot of power for the Mountain Lions offense with three homeruns in the last two games.
- In two games against St. Cloud State in the history of this matchup, the Mountain Lions have tallied a total of 35 hits, and 29 runs against the Huskies. Their 19 hits today were the most for any single game they have had as a team this season.
UP NEXT
- The Mountain Lions take the weekend off and come back to Mountain Lion Park for their first conference series with the visiting New Mexico Highlands Cowboys, starting on Friday, March 11th, with first pitch set for 2:00 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.
