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Box Score 2 LAS VEGAS N.M. – With a pair of seven-inning contests being played in less than three hours, it is easy to tell that runs were at a premium. That was certainly the case Friday (April 18), as the New Mexico Highlands baseball team (24-16, 21-9 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) took game one 4-3 before Adams State (13-28, 11-9 RMAC) struck back in game two for a 4-2 win.
The win by the visitors snapped Highlands' 10-game winning streak.
Game one saw the Cowboys score all four runs in the bottom of the third and held on for the one-run win. Junior
Colby Wilmer led off the inning with a double to left field before senior
Justin Rodriguez added a double of his own. Adams State looked as if it would escape with minimal damage, but senior
Jordan Goliat hit an RBI double with two outs. Lead-off junior hitter
Andrew Ratterman smashed the first pitch he saw over the right field wall for his second home run of the season.
Adams State responded with a pair in the top of the third. Dillon Granzella singled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on Tyler Thurston's double. A groundout and infield single by Drew Wold scored both runs, but a ground ball led to an inning ending double play as senior
Greg Hansen kept the Cowboys up two.
The Grizzlies added another run in the sixth and had the tying run on first with one out, but a fielder's choice and a caught stealing by junior catcher
Morgan McCasland ended the threat. Adams State had the tying run on third with two outs in the top of the seventh, but senior
Ben Ruff struck out Thurston in three pitches to finish his fifth save of the season.
All four Highlands hits in the game came in the second inning. Hansen improved to 6-3, allowing seven hits and three runs with three strikeouts. He only threw 66 pitches in six innings with 52 strikes (78.8 percent of pitches were strikes).
Andrew McMahon fell to 4-5 for Adams State, allowing four hits and four runs in six innings of work.
In game two, the Cowboys led 2-1 heading to the fifth before Adams State put up its own crooked number to take the lead for good. Highlands struck first when senior
Javier Ledford homered to right field, his sixth round-tripper of the season. In the third tied at one, senior
Jonathan Stavinoha singled and advanced to second on a groundout. Senior
Jarred Middleton looked as if he hit a home run to right center, but Adams State pulled down the ball against the wall. Stavinoha, the Cowboys lead-off hitter, tagged up at second and did not stop at third to give Middleton a rare sacrifice fly from second.
Adams State scored three in the fifth. With one out, Chris Morley hit a seeing-eye single up the middle before Wold added a single to centerfield. Kyle Sedlak tied the game with a single up the middle before a pair of singles by Drew Wells and Dillon Bollig put the visitors up 4-2.
The Cowboys threatened in the fifth and seventh, but key double plays gave Adams State's J.D. Heredia (3-6) the complete-game win in 114 pitches.
Erick McRae took the loss for the Cowboys, falling to 2-3 by allowing eight hits and five runs in five innings of work.
The Cowboys and Grizzlies play the final game of their four-game series Saturday (April 19) at noon.
