GOLDEN, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines Baseball team split its RMAC series with Adams State after dropping both games of Monday's doubleheader at Jim Darden Field, 26-12 and 9-7.
On offense,
Drew Fairman,
Ben Leiphart,
Jackson Babcock,
Brody Duvall, and
Luke Parker all batted .500 or better. Parker was 1-for-1 off the bench with Mines' only home run of the day.
Brody Duvall posted a .571 average at the plate and scored two runs with four RBI on four hits including two doubles. Babcock,
Evan Bilter, and
Alex Dunagan also smacked doubles for the Orediggers. Dunagan led the team with four RBI across the two games.
Alex Piscotty and
Will Niles were the starters on the mound and both the pitcher of decision in their respective games.
Luke Parker,
Nicholas Spidel,
Evan Harbach,
Tai Nguyen,
Grant Reising,
Grady Booth,
Jackson Kay,
Ryan Semin,
Kenji Bray,
Jake Verwiel, and
Matthew Turner all provided innings of relief. Austin Delgado and Joseph Marek were the winning pitchers and Daniel Hoodak earned a save.
Despite the losses, Mines (5-13, 2-2 RMAC) still hit .314 as a team while collecting five doubles with one home run. Adams State batted .411 with seven doubles and four home runs. Each team committed a total of three errors across 14 innings of baseball. Neither pitching staff was particularly stellar. Oredigger arms accumulated nine strikeouts compared to 20 walks. Pitchers for the Grizzlies finished the day with seven strikeouts and 17 walks. The home ERA was 19.29 and ASU's ERA was 11.57.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Game one of the day and the third game of the series featured an early, 1-0 lead for Mines after an Adams State error led to
Alex Freund scoring. After that, ASU posted three runs in three consecutive innings with eight more in the fifth, five in the sixth, and four in the seventh. The Orediggers also scored in the second, third, fourth, and fifth innings, but still trailed 17-6. Mines used its last chance at the plate and attempted to avoid a run-rule loss with six runs in the bottom of the seventh. The late outburst included Parker's home run with Fairman on base and three straight doubles off the bats of Babcock, Bilter, and Dunagan. A late ASU pitching change stemmed the tied and ended the game early.
The series finale started as a pitchers' duel featuring just three total runs through the first four innings.
Justin Kubojiri's one-run single in the second and Duvall's RBI-double in the fourth afforded Mines a 2-1 lead going into the back half of a game schedule for seven innings. The Grizzlies rallied back behind four runs in the fifth inning and four more in the sixth inning. The Orediggers equaled ASU's four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the score 9-7 with one frame to play. Parker worked around a seventh-inning walk with two strikeouts and a fly ball to Duvall in center field. Unfortunately, the home bats went cold in the home half of the seventh and ASU walked away with a series split.
NOTABLES
- Parker hit the second home run of his career in his first at-bat of the season.
- Mines was 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts during Monday's doubleheader.
- Babcock owns multi-hit performances in 12 of the Orediggers' 18 games this season.
- Bilter and
Tyler Pina are both riding active hitting streaks of 12 games and 10 games, respectively.
Ben Leiphart has also reached base safely in 10 consecutive games.
- Holcomb made his first collegiate start in game two of Monday's doubleheader.
- Nail Mallik came off the bench in game one on Monday for his college baseball debut.
- Verwiel's work in relief marked his first appearance in a Mines uniform.
- Head Coach
Robby Bales is now 164-153 in his eighth season at the helm.
WHAT'S NEXT
Mines travels to New Mexico Highlands this weekend for a four-game series starting Friday afternoon at 2 p.m.
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.
