GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Oredigger right-handed relief pitcher Blake Ripp provided the Colorado School of Mines Baseball team a brilliant performance on Wednesday as Mines claimed a 4-0 victory against Regis in the first round of the 2022 RMAC Tournament at Bus Bergman Field.
 
Ripp (W, 4-3) came out of the bullpen for Oredigger starter Tyler Blomster and earned the win behind 4.0 innings of shutout baseball. He gave up just six hits and zero walks while striking out five. Zachary Kriethe (S, 6) added to the bullpen's brilliance with three innings of one-hit, shutout relief on his way to the save. Kriethe walked zero Regis hitters, fanned six and hit one. Blomster started the game and tossed 2.0 innings featuring zero runs on two hits and zero walks with two strikeouts. He handed the ball off to Ripp in the third frame after meeting with Mines' athletic trainer on the mound.
 
Taylor White and Adam Houghtaling were the heroes at the plate. Both left-handed hitters hit home runs, combining for two runs and three RBI on two hits. Caden Bonds was big as well with a 2-for-3 day including a double and a RBI. Mason Andrews and I-Ly Hsue accounted for Mines' other two runs. Hsue notched a hit as well.
 
The Orediggers (33-17) entered the game as the fifth seed in the tournament and worked their four runs off just five hits. Mines also left six runners stranded. Second-seeded Regis outhit the Orediggers with nine singles, but Mines' defense forced the Rangers to leave eight runners stranded on base. Neither team committed an error, but the underdog's three hits for extra bases made the difference as RU had zero extra-base knocks. It marks the Orediggers first RMAC Tournament win since their run to the championship game in 2019. They advance to play on Thursday night at 7 p.m. against the winner between third-seeded MSU Denver and fourth-seeded CSU Pueblo.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Wednesday morning in Grand Junction, Colo., brought about what looked to be a legendary pitchers' duel between two freshly-minted First-Team All-RMAC hurlers in Regis' Justin Kleinsorge and Blomster – the 2022 RMAC Pitcher of the Year. The first two innings lived up to the billing with no runs on two hits. Blomster worked a groundball double play with a runner on third and struck out two in the second before his early departure. But, even with Mines' ace in the dugout, the defensive showdown continued. Even as Ripp rolled zeroes on top of zeroes on the scoreboard, Kleinsorge and Regis carried a no-hit bid into the fifth frame.
 
With one out in the top of the fifth, White stepped to the plate. He fell behind in the count at no balls and two strikes. Then, he watched three straight balls to fill it up before breaking up the no-hitter and the shutout with a home run to the opposite field in left. Mines used White's spark and added another run in the same inning to make it 2-0 thanks to Hsue's one-out hit and Bonds' two-out double. Ripp took the lead and continued rolling on the mound, but the Oredigger bats weren't done yet. In their very next trip to the plate, Mines added two more runs thanks to Andrews' one-out walk and Houghtaling's two-out, two-run bomb – also to left field – giving the underdogs a 4-0 advantage. That led to a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth thanks again to Ripp and the Orediggers' defense.
 
Things got dicey in the bottom of the seventh as fatigue started to show with Ripp and Regis loaded the bases with no outs thanks to three straight hits. Mines Head Coach Robby Bales made the call to the bullpen for Kriethe who bowed his neck and rose to the challenge. He needed five pitches to retire the first batter he faced on a swinging strikeout. The Honorable Mention All-RMAC relief pitcher then needed just six more pitches to retire the next two rangers – all without a run being scored. Despite two innings remaining, that would be "all she wrote." Mines didn't find any more runs, but luckily, Kriethe continued to roll. He struck out one more in the eighth inning and then fanned the side in the bottom of the ninth to close out the win and clinch the save.
 
NOTABLES
- Mines improved to 33 wins on the season on Wednesday which marks the third-most wins in a season in program history.
- Since 2016, the Orediggers are 11-8 in the RMAC Tournament. Since taking over in 2019, Coach Bales boasts a conference-tournament record of 4-2.
- Mines now owns 84 wins against Regis in the all-time rivalry.
- Houghtaling's home run was his 13th of the season which ranks #2 on the team and ties him for #7 in the program record book.
- White's home run marked his seventh mashed potato of 2022, his second game-winning home run, and his third game-winning hit for the Orediggers this year.
- In his last seven appearances, Kriethe is 2-0 with four saves thanks to just one run on four hits in 12.2 innings including 20 strikeouts. His season ERA is now 3.40 and his WHIP is 0.80.
- The last time there was a shutout in the RMAC Baseball Tournament was 2019 when Dixie State blanked MSU Denver by a score of 10-0.
- Coach Bales holds an overall record of 95-58 in his fourth season as the head coach at Mines.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
As stated above, the Orediggers next play at 7 p.m. on Thursday night at Bergman Field in Grand Junction, Colo. They will face the winner of the game between CSU Pueblo and MSU Denver. Live stats and video of the contest will be offered at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Fans can follow Mines baseball on Twitter at @OrediggersBSB. They can also follow all of Mines Athletics on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @MinesAthletics, and online at www.minesathletics.com.