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Box Score 2 PUEBLO, Colo. – Redshirt junior
Matthew Chavez had a career day with seven hits in nine at-bats while senior
Jarred Middleton smoked a pair of round-trippers as the New Mexico Highlands baseball team (22-15, 19-8 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) ran its winning streak to a season-best eight games by beating Colorado Christian (7-29, 6-20 RMAC) 16-8 in game one before a 13-4 victory in game two.
The Cowboys have now swept three conference series on the year, including the last two.
Chavez went 7-for-9 (.778) on the day with six RBI's, four runs scored and even a walk and a hit by pitch. Middleton is now second on the team and fifth in the conference with five home runs on the season. Junior
Andrew Ratterman – who did not play in game two – went 4-for-6 with four runs scored in game one to extend his hitting streak to 23 games.
Coming into the series with no triples in 2014, Ratterman had a pair in the three games he played this weekend.
Trailing 8-7 in game one after Colorado Christian put up all its runs in the bottom of the fifth, Highlands wasted no time taking the lead back in the sixth. With one out in the sixth, senior
Jordan Goliat singled and advanced to third on a Ratterman single. While trying to gun out Goliat at third, Ratterman advanced to second.
With the go-ahead runs in scoring position, junior
Joe Cervantes hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game before Chavez had a two-out hit to put the Cowboys in the lead for good.
Highlands tallied five sacrifice flies on the weekend.
To put the game away, Chavez drove in a pair with a double in the eighth and scored himself on a junior
Morgan McCasland double. The Cowboys added four more in the ninth on a wild pitch, RBI hits by Ratterman and junior
Justin Rodriguez and a Middleton solo shot. The Cowboys scored the final nine runs of the game for the 16-8 win in game one.
Junior
Zach Settles (1-2) picked up the win in game one, allowing no runs and three hits in two innings of work.
In game two, it was a four-run fourth that turned a two-run deficit into a two-run lead for the Cowboys. A pair of hit batters around a pair of walks brought Highlands within one. Junior
Tucker Young added a two-RBI single before a groundout plated the fourth run of the inning.
The Cowboys added at least a run in the final four innings of the ballgame, capped by a five-run seventh. All runs scored in the seventh with two down. Senior
Jonathan Stavinoha plated a run on an infield single. With a bases loaded, a dropped fly ball in center field off the bat of Cervantes cleared the bases. Chavez capped the inning with an infield single to score Cervantes.
Middleton hit his fifth home run of the season in the fifth after Chavez reached to begin the inning. Chavez has reached safely in each of the last 12 games played.
Junior
Cody Brown (5-1) picked up the victory in game two, allowing four runs on four hits with four strikeouts in six innings of work.
It was an eight-run fifth that allowed the Cougars to overcome a seven-run deficit in game one. Caleb Barnard drove in the first Colorado Christian runs with a two-RBI single. Sam Jones added an RBI hit and Pearce Richardson drove in two with a single to center. With the bases loaded and two out, Mark McMahon doubled to the gap in left center to clear the bases.
Colorado Christian had a short-lived 8-7 lead.
In Game two, all the Cougars' runs came off the bat of Austin Atkerson, who had a three-run home run in the bottom of the second and a solo shot in the sixth.
Jack Moore took the loss for Colorado Christian in game one, allowing three hits and two runs to fall to 1-2 on the year. Garrett Dollarhyde took the loss in game two, falling to 1-9 on the year by allowing six hits and seven runs with three walks in five innings of work.
The Cowboys return to action Thursday (April 17) when they host Adams State back in RMAC Plains Division play. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
