Grand Junction, Colo. – The Cowboy Baseball team earned a no. 3 seed in the 2013 RMAC Baseball Championship Tournament. The Cowboys' first game will be against the no. 4 seed Regis University Rangers at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8. The Cowboys won three of their four games against the Regis Rangers in early April.
The 2013 RMAC Baseball Championship is being hosted by Colorado Mesa University, in Grand Junction, Colo. The first round of games on Wednesday will begin at 12:00 p.m., with the no. 2 seed CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves taking on the no. 5 seed Metro State Roadrunners. After the Cowboys face the Rangers at 3:30 p.m., the no. 1 seed Colorado Mesa Mavericks will play the no. 6 seed Colorado School of Mines at 7:00 p.m. The six teams will play a double-elimination tournament until a victor is crowned 2013 RMAC Champion.
The Cowboys, led by Head Coach
Steve Jones, finished the 2013 regular season with a 28-22 overall record and 24-16 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. They were runner-up in the RMAC Plains Division, finishing just behind CSU-Pueblo in the division standings.
2013 Season Review
The Cowboys started the 2013 season on a high note, by coming back from a 15-0 fourth inning deficit to the visiting Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico University. The Cowboys exploded for 14 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and went on to win the game 22-16.
During their first road trip of the season, the Cowboys split their four game series against perennial powerhouse Abilene Christian University. The Pokes took on a Wildcat team that will be transitioning to NCAA DI next year and showed that they had what it takes to win games against tough competition.
The Cowboys started the 2013 RMAC season well by sweeping their four-game home series against Adams State University. They followed that performance up with what may be the highlight of the season for the Pokes, sweeping CSU-Pueblo in four road games in Pueblo, Colo. The final win of that first conference road series was Head Coach
Steve Jones' 500th win at the helm of the Cowboys. Coach Jones (517-371) has the most wins as a head coach in NMHU history.
The Cowboys then split four home games against Metro State University in mid-March. The low point of the season for the Pokes was their four game road series against conference leading Colorado Mesa University. The Mavericks' pitching staff was on fire in Grand Junction and they helped CMU to a series sweep of the Cowboys.
The Cowboys rebounded after the CMU series with a home series split against the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers. They followed that up with three wins in Denver, Colo. against the Regis University Rangers. After a series split at home against Colorado Christian University, the Cowboys traveled up to Alamosa, Colo. and won three of their four games against the Grizzlies.
With the RMAC Plains Division title in the balance, the Cowboys hosted CSU-Pueblo for four games at Brandt Park. The Thunderwolves were able to come into Las Vegas and win two games. The lost opportunity gave the Thunderwolves an opening for the division title, but the Cowboys had finished their season series against CSU-Pueblo by winning six of the eight games they played.
The Cowboys traveled up to Denver to face the Metro State Roadrunners in the final conference series of the year. The Cowboys split the final series of the year, but the CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves swept all four of their games against Adams State to take the RMAC Plains Division title.
2013 Cowboy Top Performers
The Cowboys pitching staff is led by seniors
Oscar Almeida and
Chris Prokupek.
After finishing the 2012 season as the RMAC saves leader (14 saves),
Oscar Almeida started out 2013 with five saves but injuries in the rotation would force Almeida to transition to a starting position. Almeida performed well beyond expectations, finishing with a 6-1 record and throwing deep into almost every game he started (2 complete games). His 2.47 ERA is tops in the RMAC and he led the Cowboys with 70 strikeouts, allowing just 17 earned runs in 62 innings pitched. Opponents were only able to muster a .252 batting average against Almeida this season.
was the Cowboys' game four starter throughout the season and racked up a 6-3 record in 12 starting appearances. Prokupek had 49 strikeouts in his 74.1 innings off the mound, holding opponents to a .281 batting average.
The Cowboys' offense was anchored by outfielder
Jordan Goliat. The first year Cowboy finished the 2013 season with a .384 batting average, scoring a team leading 43 runs this year. Goliat had 29 RBIs, 10 doubles, five triples, and seven stolen bases.
Three other first year Cowboys were impressive this year as well.
Senior
Cory Falvey followed Goliat statistically for the Cowboys with a .380 batting average. Falvey finished with 28 runs scored, 26 RBIs, seven doubles, one triple, and three home runs.
Jarred Middleton maintained a .344 batting average in 2013. He had 28 RBIs, 23 runs scored, seven doubles, and three home runs.
Despite starting the 2013 season from the bench,
Tyler Hayes came on strong throughout the season and earned his spot as the Cowboys' short stop. Hayes finished the season with a .432 batting average. He had 22 runs scored, 12 RBIs, four doubles, and two home runs.
The Cowboys will be looking to get off to a good start in the 2013 RMAC Baseball Championships in their first game against Regis University. The loser of the game will have to play the winner of the Colorado Mesa – Colorado Mines game, while the winner will face the winner of the CSU-Pueblo – Metro State game.
If you can't make the trip up to Grand Junction, Colo. to catch you Cowboys in action, you can click
HERE to follow the games on Live Stats. Live Video coverage provided by the America One Network can be found
HERE.
GO COWBOYS!!!
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HERE for 2013 RMAC Baseball Championship Tournament Central.
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HERE for 2013 NMHU Baseball Statistics.
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HERE for 2013 NMHU Baseball Schedule (w/ Box Scores).
