COLORADO SPRINGS – The Colorado School of Mines baseball team fell victim to nine UCCS home runs Saturday as the Orediggers fell 19-4 and 15-8 in the doubleheader.
Despite the losses,
Brody Duvall remained unfazed at the plate. He finished the day batting .750 after going 6-for-8 with three runs, one double, one triple, and one RBI.
Justin Kubojiri batted .667 in one of the games and
Jackson Babcock produced three hits across the two contests.
Evan Bilter and
Tyler Hummel each generated three RBI. Babcock and Kubojiri each scored twice as well.
Alex Honeyman (4-3) and
Luke Parker (2-3) were the starting pitchers and took their respective losses on the mound.
Alex Piscotty,
Cade Burghardt,
Dillon Alcouffe,
Brandon Schaff, and
Nicholas Spidel accounted for innings out of the bullpen.
As a team, Mines (15-25, 12-14 RMAC) still produced a .339 batting average with six total doubles and one triple. However, UCCS (28-12-1, 17-5-1 RMAC) generated a .456 mark at the plate and slugged .926 thanks to three doubles, one triple, and nine home runs. The Mountain Lions fueled their winning effort on the mound with 11 strikeouts compared to two walks. The Orediggers totaled eight strikeouts and walked 12 batters. Each team sprinkled three defensive errors across the two games.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The day started with UCCS scoring eight unanswered runs during the first two innings. That production was spearheaded by two home runs including one grand slam. A Mountain Lion error and an
Evan Bilter double helped Mines score a trio of runs in the top of the third inning. The Orediggers cut the gap to 8-4 after
Tyler Hummel plated
Ben Leiphart in the top of the fourth inning. However, Mines' bats went cold after that and UCCS stacked 11 unanswered runs to end the game early after seven innings.
Game two of the day and of the series saw a slower start from the home team. The Mountain Lions were limited to one run in the first and zero in the second while Hummel's two-run double in the top of the second frame pushed Mines to a 2-1 lead. Once again, UCCS' bats came alive and generated a five-run third, seven-run fourth, and two-run fifth inning. Seven of those 12 runs came from the long ball. Dunagan's double in the top of the fifth helped the Orediggers put a crooked number on the scoreboard. The visitors even loaded the bases and scored four more runs in the top of the seventh inning, but it wouldn't be enough to get the win.
NOTABLES
- Dunagan's 19 doubles this spring have the senior tied for #11 in the Mines record book for doubles in a season.
- Duvall touts five triples so far in 2026 which is tied for #3 in the program record book and the second-most in a season by any Oredigger ever.
- After hitting .750 on Saturday, Duvall is also up to a .489 batting average this season with 47 runs on 68 hits including 12 doubles, five triples, and one home run with 22 RBI and 11 stolen bases on 13 attempts.
- Bilter's 42 collegiate doubles have him alone at #12 in Mines' history.
- Duvall has reached base safely in 12 consecutive games with Bilter's same streak up to 10 straight games.
- Head Coach
Robby Bales is now 174-165 in his eighth season at the helm.
WHAT'S NEXT
Mines and UCCS close their conference series Sunday with a noon doubleheader.
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.
