PUEBLO, Colo. – It will be a showdown for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Plains Division this weekend (April 25-27) when the New Mexico Highlands baseball team plays its final away regular season series against CSU-Pueblo.
There will be no live video; however there will be live statistics available by clicking
here. Schedule Change For the final home weekend of the regular season, the Highlands baseball team with play double-headers beginning at noon on both Friday and Saturday (May 2-3). The Cowboys will battle the Roadrunners in a nine-inning contest followed by a seven-inning affair both days.
On Saturday between games, Highlands will recognize 13 seniors for all of their contributions to Cowboys baseball.
For more information, click
here. Looking at the RMAC Tournament With all eight conference teams having eight conference games left, both Colorado Mesa (25-5) and New Mexico Highlands (22-9) have clinched spots in the four-team conference tournament. Meanwhile, Metro State (8-22) and Colorado Christian (6-24) have already been eliminated from postseason play.
If the tournament started this weekend, Highlands would be the second seed and face third-seeded CSU-Pueblo (19-11). Colorado Mesa would be the first seed and square off against fourth-seeded Colorado Mines (18-12).
The Cowboys' magic number to clinch the Plains Division is six, meaning Highlands needs a combination of six wins and/or CSU-Pueblo losses to clinch. If the Cowboys win 3-of-4 at Pueblo, Highlands will win the Plains Division.
In the South Central Regional Poll to determine who will go to the NCAA Tournament, the Cowboys are on the outside looking in as they currently sit seventh.
Last Time against CSU-Pueblo The ThunderWolves were the one to get out to a fast start by winning the first two games of the series in Las Vegas April 7-9, but the Cowboys struck back with a little late-inning magic to split the series.
CSU-Pueblo took game one in a thriller, 2-1, before taking the first game on Saturday 7-4. Needing to give Highlands some momentum, junior
Cody Brown stepped to the mound in the second game of Saturday and allowed only one earned run and five hits for the complete game win.
In the series finale on Sunday, the Cowboys faced a 10-2 deficit after four innings before outscoring the visitors 10-1 the rest of the way for the come-from-behind win. During the rally, junior
Colby Wilmer hit his only home run of the year. Tied at 11 going into the bottom of the ninth, senior
Justin Rodriguez singled to begin the inning, was sacrificed to second and scored the winning run on junior
Andrew Ratterman's single.
The Cowboys have three walk-off wins for the season.
Wilmer led the Cowboys offensively with five hits and also had a trio of runs scored and RBI's. Ratterman had four hits, six RBI's and a pair of runs scored. Besides the aforementioned Brown, junior
Blake Harrison also had a complete game, allowing two earned runs and 10 hits in nine innings of work.
Leading CSU-Pueblo was Austin Mascorro with eight hits, five runs scored and four RBI's. Scott Hoyt added a home run and four RBI's. Dueling with Harrison, Mike Fabrizio picked up the Friday win by allowing only one run on three hits in eight innings of work.
To read more about Friday's loss, click
here. To read more about Saturday's double header split, click
here. To read more about Sunday's thrilling, come-from-behind win, click
here.
A Look at the National Stats The Cowboys offense continues to shine nationally as they are third in triples per game (0.49), seventh in slugging percentage (.497), 13th in batting average (0.327) and 34th in the country with nearly seven runs a ballgame. Conversely, the pitching staff is 228th by allowing 6.27 runs per ballgame.
Individually, Chavez is 16th in the nation with a .429 batting average while Wilmer is fourth with seven triples in 2014, just a pair behind the national leaders.
Scouting CSU-Pueblo Looking to clinch a spot in the RMAC Tournament (the ThunderWolves magic number is two, meaning they need a combination of two wins and/or Regis' losses), CSU-Pueblo looks to jump right back into Plains Division contention if it wins the series against Highlands.
The only way Highlands does not leave the weekend controlling its own destiny in the division is if it loses all four games to CSU-Pueblo.
The ThunderWolves use strong pitching to continue its push for post season play, ranking third in the conference and 164th with a 5.02 ERA. CSU-Pueblo is a very patient team as it leads the RMAC in walks. But, Highlands counters with a 1.87 strikeout-to-walk ratio (second in the conference, 106th in the nation).
CSU-Pueblo does not want to get into a slugfest with the Cowboys as they only average 5.8 runs per ballgame and are sixth in the conference and 102nd in the nation with only a .288 batting average. In the first series between the Cowboys and ThunderWolves in Las Vegas, the visitors won the two games they held Highlands to under five runs. But, the Cowboys won the two games they scored in double-digits.
Only two ThunderWolves are batting above .300 in Scott Hoyt (.328) and Mike Wagner (.326). However, Mario Sanchez is 44th in the nation with 27 walks this season and Michael Wagner is 15th in the nation with 15 hit by pitches this season. Mike Fabrizio is their ace and workhouse, leading the team with a 3.28 ERA and 71.1 innings pitched. He is 6-2 on the year.
Next Up The New Mexico Highlands baseball team wraps up regular season action next weekend with a pair of double headers against Metro State (May 2-3). Action both days begin at noon.
