PUEBLO, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines Baseball team's offense exploded on Sunday afternoon as the Orediggers broke one program record and tied two others in a 27-11 win over CSU-Pueblo at Rawlings Field. The victory sealed Mines' fifth series sweep of the season.
The Orediggers' 27 runs tied the single-game scoring record, set previously on April 21, 2010 against Colorado Christian. Mines' nine doubles also tied the single-game record set in the same game as the scoring record. The Orediggers' 25 RBI broke the previous record of 23. Also against Colorado Christian in 2010. Mines (26-9, 17-7 RMAC) finished the game batting .500 as a team and slugging .840 on nine doubles, one triple and two home runs.
Jace Selsor and
Joe Popp led the charge as both seniors batted 1.000 on a 4-for-4 day at the plate. Selsor finished with three runs and four RBI while hitting one home run. Popp scored twice for the Orediggers and racked up four RBI as well on one home run and two doubles. Individually, Popp finished the day slugging 2.250.
Lucas Ciacco and
Chris Okamoto added batting averages of 1.000 as well. Both redshirts went 2-for-2 and combined to score three runs with two RBI and two doubles.
Gabe Garvens,
Jason Hall,
Danny McDermott,
Caden Bonds and
Trevor Howard contributed doubles to the record-tying performance. Capping it all off was
Trevor Howard with four runs,
Noah Kuzma with three and eight total RBI between Garvens and Bonds.
On the mound,
Drew Hill (4-2) was lights out for four innings with 10 strikeouts. Hill surrendered zero runs and just two hits but did not factor in the decision due to his early departure.
Toby Scoles (1-0) earned the win in relief, providing one inning out of the bullpen.
Arik Ringsby and
Mitch Menard matched Hill's 0.00 ERA.
Nick Gardner,
Colin Morris and
Nash Neff also appeared in relief for the Orediggers. As a team, Mines' pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts.
On the other side of the ball, CSU-Pueblo (17-20, 12-12 RMAC) managed 10 hits with seven going for extra bases. However, a batting average of .244 was not enough to overcome 12 walks dished out by the ThunderWolves' pitching staff. The Pack's Nick Zappala (2-2) took the loss, recording just one out while giving up five runs on three hits and one walk.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Mines set the tone early and did most of the heavy lifting in the first two innings by way of 15 runs on nine hits through the first two frames. Selsor struck first on the opening at-bat of the game, working full, 3-2 count before hitting a lead-off home run to right field. That was only the beginning as Popp,
Trevor Kehe and
Mikey Gangwish all reached base before CSU-Pueblo recorded an out. The first-inning onslaught continued all the way around the order and was capped by Popp's two-run single in his second plate appearance of the inning.
The second inning provided more of the same. Garvens hit a one-out single which led to
Trevor Howard, McDermott, Kuzma, Bonds, Selsor and Popp all reaching base without an out recorded. Over that stretch, four more runs came in to score. Kehe drove in a fifth on a fielder's choice and Garvens capped the inning with a three-run double to left-center field. Meanwhile, on defense, Hill struck out three batters in the first inning, fanned another batter in the second inning and recorded seven strikeouts through the first three frames.
The Orediggers' scoring became more spread out after the first two stanzas. Popp added two more runs with his home run in the fourth. Selsor and Popp notched back-to-back RBI hits in the fifth as well for a 19-0 lead. However, CSU-Pueblo broke up the shutout in the bottom of the fifth. The ThunderWolves staged a rally with four runs in the seventh off a grand slam. CSU-Pueblo reached double digits in the eighth with five more runs. However,
Walter Pennington sparked a five-run inning with his triple in the ninth, and that would be too much for the home team to overcome.
NOTABLES
- Mines is 12-5 in the all-time series against CSU-Pueblo since 2016.
- Sunday's victory extends the Orediggers' winning streak to seven games.
- The Orediggers hold sole possession of third place in the RMAC standings, just two games out of first place.
- Kehe stole four bases in the four-game series, bringing his season total to 22 which is tied for #3 on Mines' single-season list.
- Hill's 10 strikeouts on Sunday put the sophomore at 73 on the year, ranking #3 on the Orediggers' single-season chart.
- Selsor is now #2 in all-time runs at Mines with 160 in his career. He is also tied for #2 in all-time hits with 252.
- Popp leads the Orediggers with 50 hits and 15 doubles in 2019.
- Mines' mark of 26-9 through 35 games matches its start to the 2018 season when it went 26-9 overall and 19-6 in RMAC play.
- Pennington drove in the 21st run of Sunday's game on his 21st birthday.
- Head coach
Robby Bales is 26-9 in his first season at the helm.
WHAT'S NEXT
Mines returns to Jim Darden Field April 18-20 for a four-game series against Colorado Christian. Live stats and video will be available at www.minesathletics.com.
Keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all season long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.
