GOLDEN, Colo. – Senior Day for the Colorado School of Mines Baseball team saw the Orediggers halt the second-longest win streak in all the nation as Mines took game one of Saturday's doubleheader against #13-ranked MSU Denver by an extra-innings score of 4-3 before dropping the backend, 14-7.
 
Caden Bonds was one of the Orediggers honored on Senior Day and he was red hot at the plate, batting .500 with two runs on three hits including a home run and one RBI. Fellow senior Garret Nielsen was 3-for-8 with one run on three hits including two doubles. Adam Houghtaling was another senior honoree and he matched Nielsen's .375 average at the plate while scoring twice thanks to one double and one home run. Houghtaling also added two RBI. Mason Andrews and Luke Folsom were the other top performers on offense. Andrews tallied three RBI on one double. Folsom had two hits including one home run and finished the day with three RBI to his name.
 
Kevin Zapanta was the senior star on the mound. He started game one and spun 7.0 innings. Zapanta did not factor in the decision but did strike out 13 batters and only walked one while giving up three runs on five hits with zero walks. Marcus Lee (3-1) was the winning pitcher thanks to one inning of flawless work that featured one strikeout and zero walks. Blake Ripp (4-4) was the starting pitcher in game two and also responsible for the decision. He left the game after giving up six runs on six hits in 2.2 innings of work. Rodney Gregg, Weston Siefken, Jackson Bakovich, Carter Gorling, and Nicholas Spidel all came out of the bullpen as well.
 
Prior to game one of Saturday's doubleheader, MSU Denver (40-9, 25-6) had won 17 straight games which marked the second-longest, active win streak across all three divisions of the NCAA. Mines (18-22, 13-14 RMAC) halted the Roadrunners win streak thanks to an error-free on defense combined with 14 strikeouts and zero walks from the pitching staff. Additionally, MSU Denver had two errors in its loss while three of the Orediggers' five hits went for extra bases. For the day, Mines hit .255 as a team while the Roadrunners put up a .311 average at the plate. The Orediggers produced four doubles and three home runs. The Roadrunners finished with three doubles and five home runs.
 
GAME ONE: Mines 4, #13 MSU Denver 3 (8 innings)
The Roadrunners opened the game with a single on the fifth pitch of the day. After that, Zapanta struck out two in the first, two in the second, and two in the third en route to three straight zeroes on the scoreboard. Zapanta also struck out three batters in the fourth inning but gave up a solo home run which provided the visitors a 1-0 lead. However, Mines responded immediately in the bottom of the fourth frame as Folsom plated Houghtaling on a sacrifice fly and Bonds smacked his own solo shot. That pushed the Orediggers to a 2-1 lead.
 
Zapanta struck out another Roadrunner in the fifth and two in the sixth before the Orediggers added to their lead. It was Houghtaling's solo home run to center field that made the home team's advantage 3-1, and provided critical insurance. MSU Denver started the seventh inning with a one-run home run to left-center field. Zapanta struck out another batter before the Roadrunners tied the game on, wait for it, another solo home run. The 3-3 score carried through the final scheduled frame and forced extra innings. Lee's flawless top-of-the-eighth put Mines in position for victory.
 
Andrews walked to start the Orediggers' first trip to the plate in extra innings. Garret Nielsen laid down a flawless bunt that saw MSU Denver closer Eric Cox slip on the ground before attempting to throw to first from his back. With runners on first and second base, Mines started to sweat as Houghtaling lined out to first base and McDermott struck out swinging. Then, Folsom stepped to the plate. After watching one ball and one called strike, he sent a looping ball to centerfield that fell in front of the MSU Denver defender and allowed Andrews to use his speed and come across the plate for the game-winning run.
 
GAME TWO: #13 MSU Denver 14, Mines 7
At the halfway point of another seven-inning contest, the Orediggers found themselves facing a 9-1 deficit. While the home team could have tucked tail, Mines decided to put up a fight. Folsom homered in the bottom of the fourth frame to make the score 9-2. Andrews smacked a three-run double as part of a four-run fifth inning to pull the Orediggers within three runs of the top-ranked offense in all of NCAA Division II. However, MSU Denver found five runs of insurance thanks to three in the sixth and two in the seventh. Ryan Vermeer's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth was the only offense for Mines during the same span.
 
NOTABLES
- Mines' win in the first game on Saturday put the Orediggers won victory away from clinching a berth in the 2023 RMAC Baseball Tournament.
- Zapanta came two strikeouts short of tying his own program record for strikeouts in a single game.
- Zapanta now has 69 strikeouts in 2023 and 177 in his career. He is now #7 on Mines' single-season list and the all-time list.
- In 2023, Zapanta owns a 3-3 record with a 3.32 ERA thanks to 69 strikeouts compared to 16 walks across 57 innings including two complete-game performances.
- Bonds' home run was his first of the season and eighth of his career.
- Folsom sits alone at #12 in the program record book under all-time home runs. He has 19 in three seasons and two in 2023.
- Houghtaling is #11 on Mines all-time home runs list after hitting the 19th of his career. He's also tied for #10 on the career doubles list.
- Garret Nielsen put himself in a tie for #10 in the program record book thanks to his 17th and 18th doubles of the season.
- Lee became Mines' most-winning pitcher of 2023 on Saturday. He's now 3-1 with a 4.70 ERA thanks to 15 strikeouts and four walks across 23.0 innings out of the bullpen.
- Head Coach Robby Bales is now 113-82 in his fifth season leading the Orediggers.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Mines plays its final home game of the 2023 season on Sunday against MSU Denver at 12 p.m. at Jim Darden Field. Tickets can be purchased online or at the gate. Live stats and free video on the RMAC Network 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.