POMONA, Calif. – Offense was the name of the game on Sunday as the Colorado School of Mines Baseball team used its bats to get a 7-4 win in the series finale at Cal Poly Pomona.
 
Highlighting outstanding performances at the plate up and down the order were Garret Nielsen, Trent Nielsen, Alex Dunagan and Luke Folsom. Dunagan and the Nielsens recorded three hits apiece. All three of Trent Nielsen's hits were doubles and resulted in three RBI as he scored one run as well. Dunagan added a double and one run while Garret Nielsen scored one and drove one in. Folsom went 1-for-3 and scored three times after walking twice. Jackson Woolwine, and Garret Nielsen also notched doubles.
 
On the mound, Ben Schoneman started the game, but had to leave after 4.1 innings of three-run, three-hit work and did not factor in the decision. Rodney Gregg (1-0) earned the win thanks to 1.1 innings of one-run relief. Marcus Lee (1) got the save thanks to 3.1 big innings in which he surrendered just two hits and zero runs. Lee struck out three and walked zero.
 
It marked the first win of the season for Mines (1-3) and Cal Poly Pomona's (7-1) first loss. The Orediggers stacked up 12 hits including seven doubles in 35 at-bats for a team batting average of .342. They only struck out five times and worked five walks. The Broncos were limited to seven hits and just two for extra bases as they batted .212 as a team. Cal Poly Pomona left 10 men on base, struck out six times and only walked three times.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Sunday's scoring came in waves with Mines striking first. The visitors put up two runs in the top of the first thanks to Woolwine's leadoff double. That led to him scoring on Garret Nielsen's RBI single while Veltien plated Folsom with a sacrifice fly, giving the Orediggers a 2-0 lead. They built that advantage to 4-0 in the top of the third after back-to-back doubles by Veltien and Trent Nielsen brought in Folsom and Veltien. Mines pushed its surge to six unanswered runs with two more in the top of the fifth inning. Trent Nielsen drove in Garret Nielsen and Dunagan brought the former in to score, making it 6-0.
 
Cal Poly Pomona staged a rally starting with three runs in the bottom of the fifth frame. The Broncos added one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning, making Mines' insurance runs in the top of the fifth all the more critical. However, that would be all the offense for the visitors as Lee took the ball from Gregg and shut down the threat for the last 10 outs.
 
NOTABLES
- Mines is now 1-3 in the all-time series against Cal Poly Pomona
- Trent Nielsen's three doubles in a single game tied the program record. For the season, he is batting .552 in four games and two starts with four doubles making his slugging percentage 1.000.
- Twelve other Orediggers have hit three doubles in one game. The last was Toby Scoles in 2022.
- Dunagan smacked the first double of his collegiate career in his second start. He also recorded his first career RBI on Sunday.
- Lee earned the first save of his career.
- Gregg got his first win of the season and fifth of his career. He's now 5-1 in his career on the mound.
- Head Coach Robby Bales is now 96-63 in his fifth season leading the Orediggers.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Mines returns to California next weekend for a four-game series at Cal State L.A. running Friday-Sunday. Free live stats will be offered at www.minesathletics.com. Pay-per-view video will also be available on the CCAA Network.
 
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.