GOLDEN, Colo. – Pitching and offense clicked on all cylinders for the Colorado School of Mines Baseball team on Friday, evidenced by wins of 6-5 and 13-4 against UCCS at Jim Darden Field.
Trent Nielsen dominated at the plate. In two games he combined to hit .714 with five runs on five hits including two doubles and a home run with five RBI.
Evan Bilter was right behind, swinging at a .625 clip while notching three doubles on the way to four runs scored.
Jackson Woolwine scored three times and
Luke Folsom tallied three RBI. Folsom and
Keene Tanaka provided home runs as well. Folsom and
Ben Schoneman were the starters on the mound. Folsom, operating on a pitch count, did not factor in his decision. Instead,
Jackson Bakovich (7-5) earned the win thanks to 1.1 inning out of the bullpen. Schoneman (2-2) dominated game two. He spun 6.0 innings of six-hit, two-run baseball, striking out five and walking just one.
Matthew Dobberthien and
Gray St. Amant provided relief as well.
The two wins for Mines (26-18, 19-11 RMAC) moved the Orediggers into a tie with Regis for #2 in the RMAC standings. The combination of two losses and a CSU Pueblo win eliminated UCCS (15-31, 12-18 RMAC) from postseason contention. As a team, Mines hit .344, scoring its 19 runs on 21 hits with 17 RBI. The Orediggers had eight doubles and three home runs to fuel a .623 slugging percentage. Mines' defense limited the Mountain Lions to a .226 batting average despite two doubles, one triple, and two home runs. Each team sprinkled four errors apiece across two games and 16 innings. The Orediggers' pitching staff turned in a combined ERA of 3.38 thanks to 13 strikeouts compared to two walks. The UCCS pitching staff struck out 14 batters, but suffered from 10 walks as well.
GAME ONE: Mines 6, UCCS 5
Folsom's final appearance on the mound at Jim Darden Field featured a razor-sharp start. He, along with the Mines defense, retired the first eight UCCS batters of the game. Five straight strikeouts put Folsom on the precipice of three perfect innings to start the game. However, a throwing error ended the streak and eventually put the Mountain Lions on the board. Luckily, doubles from Bilter and Nielsen fueled two Oredigger runs in the second inning. Hsue and Andrews had two-baggers in the third which helped Mines to a 3-0 advantage. The top of the fourth saw Folsom reach his predetermined pitch count after UCCS plated two more runs, tying the game at three.
From the bottom of the fourth until the top of the eighth, neither team scored a run. That span included just one hit which was a double off the bat of Bilter, one walk, and a wild pitch making Bilter,
Brady Veltien, and Hsue the only hitters from either team to reach base. Then, solo home runs from the Mountain Lions in the top of the eighth and the top of the ninth put Mines at a 5-3 disadvantage. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Nielsen led off with a double. Pina singled up the middle and a UCCS error loaded the bases.
Grant Johnson worked a pinch-hit walk, and Hsue plated
Joe Reitz who was a pinch runner for Pina. The 5-5 tie didn't last long. Andrews stepped to the plate and watched two balls before hitting a walk-off single to centerfield. Humphreys scored and the Orediggers celebrated.
GAME TWO: Mines 13, UCCS 4
The combination of a heartbreaking, walk-off loss and being eliminated from postseason contention seemingly took the wind out of the Mountain Lions' proverbial sails. The Orediggers took advantage of the opportunity and had no regrets. Stacked zeroes in the first inning proved to be a red herring as to how game two of the doubleheader would go. Nielsen and Tanaka homered in the second and provided Mines a 3-0 lead. Folsom's two-run home run in the third inning fueled a four-run frame which offset UCCS' single score in the top half. At the halfway point, the Orediggers touted a 7-1 advantage, and they weren't ready to stop. Andrews singled and Woolwine doubled at the start of the fourth inning, sparking three more runs on four hits with another Mountain Lion error. While UCCS managed one run in the sixth and two in the seventh, Mines made it academic by scoring three more in its half of the sixth.
NOTABLES
- Mines owns a 21-10 lead in the all-time series against UCCS.
- The Orediggers have taken four straight and eight of the last 10 from the Mountain Lions.
- Folsom's home run was his eighth of the season and 29th of his career. He moved into a tie with Terry Packer (1999-02) at #6 on Mines' all-time list.
- The long ball for Tanaka was his third of the season and fifth of his collegiate tenure.
- Nielsen notched his ninth bomb of 2024 and the 17th of his career.
- With his win on the mound, Bakovich moved into a tie for #5 in the program record book for wins in a season. His seven victories match Tyler Blomster (2022),
Kevin Zapanta (2022), and Nate Olinger (2016).
- Schoneman climbed to 163 career strikeouts which ranks ranks #8 in Mines' history.
- Two hits for Hsue put him inside the Orediggers' all-time top-10. He has 206 hits in five seasons.
- Folsom boasts exactly 200 career hits. He also moved to #3 on Mines' all-time RBI list, sitting on 152 in four seasons.
- Andrews and Woolwine are tied for #4 in the program record book for runs scored in a season, touting 61 apiece.
- Veltien stole the first base on the first attempt of his collegiate career.
- Hsue and Bilter boast active hitting streaks of 16 games and 13 games, respectively.
- Folsom, Hsue, Andrews, and Bilter have all reached base safely in at least 10 straight games.
- Woolwine has reached base safely in 42 of 44 games this season.
- Oredigger Head Coach
Robby Bales is 143-103 in his sixth season leading Mines.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Orediggers close the 2024 regular season and their series with UCCS on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. Senior Day festivities will begin at 11:40 a.m. Live stats and free video on the RMAC Network will be offered at www.minesathletics.com.
Fans can keep up with Mines baseball on "X" (formerly Twitter) and Instagram at @OrediggersBSB. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, "X" and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.
