GRAND JUNCTION, Col. – The Montana State Billings Yellowjacket men's baseball team (8-7) dropped both games of the doubleheader 13-4 and 17-5 to the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks (7-6).
HEAR FROM WADDOUPS: "Mesa did a good job of taking advantage of out mistakes, to have success against quality teams we need to pitch ahead in counts and continue to make defensive plays. We had some good offensive production in both games but not enough to overcome the big innings that we allowed. We need to get back to minimizing innings and winning the strike zone battle."
GAME ONE: MSUB 4; CMU 13
The Yellowjackets were first to plate runs in the opening game of the doubleheader, taking an early 2-0 lead after
River Smith hit his first jack as a Yellowjacket hitting a two RBI homer in the top of the second.
Cy Miller got the game two start and threw a flawless pair of innings, retiring six straight batters. In the bottom of the third Colorado Mesa quickly evened the score 2-2 on a good mix of timely hits and capitalizing on walks and hit by pitches. With two outs,
Lance Schaaf entered after Miller went 2.2 innings with three strikeouts while allowing two earned runs. Schaaf made quick work in the bottom of the third, retiring the first batter he faced and the Yellowjackets headed into the fourth all tied up.
After no damage from the 'Jackets, the Mavericks caught fire in the bottom half of the fourth, scoring seven runs on four hits to give them the 9-2 advantage. Schaaf attempted to limit the damage in his outing and nearly got out of the inning with just four runs, but a costly two-out fielding error led to a three-run homer before he was able to draw the final out.
Cole Bertram then entered in the bottom of the fifth inning and with the Mavericks threatening was able to get out of the jam allowing just one run and the Yellowjackets headed to the sixth with a 10-2 deficit.
Colorado Mesa went on to tac on three more while holding the Yellowjackets scoreless, until the top of the ninth when Ryan Jefrey got things started by drawing a hit by pitch. Following was
Jackson Betancourt entering to pinch run for Jeffrey, a single from Elmer, a wild pitch from the Mavericks, and a two RBI single from
Nate McDonald. The Yellowjackets were not able to scratch any more across and Mesa went on to take game two of the series with a final score of 13-4.
Cole Bertram finished out his outing with one innings pitched while allowing two earned runs, followed by
Gunner Thompson who threw two complete innings with three strikeouts while also allowing two earned runs, and
Jaxon Meyer closing out the bottom of the eight with zero hits and zero runs.
GAME TWO: MSUB 5; CMU 17
The Mavericks carried their momentum over from the first game of the day, exploding with one run in the first and six runs in the second to jump ahead to an early 7-0 lead. After a pair of scoreless innings, the Yellowjackets were able to plate a run in the top of the third after
Parker Bleggi sent his second career home run of his MSUB career over the left field wall, cutting their deficit to six. After CMU plated another, the 'Jackets struck back with two in the top of the fifth after a two RBI double from Kirshenbaum that scored
Bodee Wright and
Zack Blaszak who got on base via hit by pitch and a single to make it an 8-3 ballgame.
The Mavericks then responded with an eight spot in the bottom half, but the Yellowjackets kept responding, scoring two in the top of the sixth after Smith and May got on via hit by pitch and a walk and were brought home on a two RBI single from Bleggi. From there Mesa tacked on another in the bottom of the seventh and would go on to take game three 17-5. Starting the day on the bump was
Brennen Chappell who went 1.1 innings with four strikeouts before being relieved by
Malcolm Bartholomew who threw one complete while allowing just one run.
Andrew White was next out of the pen and went 1.2 innings with a pair of strikeouts followed by
Cole Bakker to close out the bottom of the fifth. Closing it out was
Bodee Wright who made the first appearance in his career on the bump, throwing one complete inning with two strikeouts while allowing zero earned runs.
STATISTIC LEADERS
RBI: Parker Bleggi (3);
River Smith (2);
Nate McDonald (2)
2B: Ryker Fortier (1);
Kaden Kirshenbaum (1)
HR: River Smith (1);
Parker Bleggi (1)
IP: Cy Miller (2.2);
Malcolm Bartholomew (1.2);
Andrew White (1.2)
SO: Brennen Chappell (4);
Gunner Thompson (3)
THE BUZZ: River Smith was named Intermountain Health Player of the Game in game one after hitting his fist home run in a Yellowjacket uniform and
Parker Bleggi was named Intermountain Health Player of the Game for Game two.
UP NEXT: The Montana State University Billings baseball team is back in action tomorrow for their final game of their Colorado Mesa series, with first pitch scheduled for 12 PM. Live statistics for the matchup can be found
here, and the live stream link can be found
here.
