COLORADO SPRINGS - Noah Kuzma homered twice, but Colorado School of Mines could not contain UCCS' bats as the Mountain Lions wrapped up the RMAC pod weekend with a 17-5 win.
The Orediggers (2-14, 2-14 RMAC) generated 11 hits, but the Mountain Lions (12-4, 8-4 RMAC) doubled that as they broke the game open with a big five-run second inning.
Kuzma's two round trips led the way as he was 2-for-3 with two RBI;
Danny McDermott,
I-Ly Hsue, and
Luke Folsom also had two hits. Evan Richards led UCCS doubling three times with four RBI and Matt McDermott was 5-for-6 with four runs scored.
The game was 1-1 after
Keene Tanaka's second-inning groundout plated Folsom, but UCCS put five across in the bottom half of that inning to take a 6-1 lead. Kuzma launched a two-out solo home run to right in the fourth to make it 6-2, but the Mountain Lions' Jake Anderson answered with a three-run launch of his own. Hsue singled in a run in the fifth, Kuzma went yard again in the sixth, and McDermott doubled in
Wayne Moeck in the seventh to cut it to 11-5, but UCCS shut the door with a six-run eighth.
Mines combined five pitchers with
Marcus Lee (0-3) departing after two innings and taking the loss.
Adam Houghtaling,
Brady Veltien,
Zachary Kriethe, and
Gavan Blackburn all worked in relief. Starter Jonathan Cowles (1-0) earned the win for the Mountain Liones in six innings of work.
NEXT UP
The Orediggers visit Colorado Christian for a four-game series starting Thursday at All-Star Park in Lakewood.
