LAS VEGAS, N.M. – There was something about the Cowboys getting the leadoff batter of an inning on base, and it paid off in spades. New Mexico Highlands (13-13, 7-9 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) scored all five times the leadoff batter reached base and responded to everything thrown by Colorado School of Mines (9-14, 4-12 RMAC) as the Cowboys won on getaway day Sunday afternoon (March 29), 8-5.
After a Nate Olinger solo home run gave Colorado School of Mines a 5-4 after the top of the sixth, the Cowboys responded with a pair of their own to take the lead for good. Senior
Morgan McCasland – who hit his fourth home run of the season after the Orediggers took a brief 2-1 lead in the second – walked to begin the inning and moved up on a passed ball. After a pair of strikeouts by Tommy Rodgers, senior
EJ Stanton doubled over the right fielder's glove to tie the game at five. Senior
Andrew Ratterman – who scored the first run of the game on a double and two groundouts to leadoff the bottom of the first – scored Stanton on an RBI single.
McCasland, who quickly moved up to second on the team with five home runs on the season, went 2-for-2 with three runs scored and three RBI's. Stanton had a key RBI triple for an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and had a double and triple in three at-bats with two key RBI's and a run scored. Twirling the final 4.2 innings on the mound was freshman
Mike Chavez, who allowed two hits and one run to improve to 2-0 on the year.
After McCasland's no-doubter in the second, the Cowboys added a run in the bottom of the third to go up 4-2. Senior
Nick Gonzales singled to begin the inning, advanced to second on a two-out, hit by pitch and scored on McCasland's double. In the seventh with one out, fifth-year senior
Matthew Chavez doubled to deep center and scored on classmate
Omar Garcia's single.
The Orediggers had two brief leads in the game, but the Cowboys made sure they never trailed at the conclusion of an inning. With Highlands up 1-0 in the top of the second, Shane Johnson hit a two-run blast to left to give Colorado School of Mines a brief 2-1 lead. However, McCasland answered in the bottom of the second with his own two-run, touch-'em-all to left.
Colorado School of Mines tied the game at four with a pair in the fourth. Caleb Thomas doubled and advanced to third on a flyout. Cody Marvel was beaned and advanced to third on a Logan Smith RBI double. Marvel scored on a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
After the Orediggers took a brief 5-4 lead, the Cowboys scored four runs in their final three at-bats for the win.
Lambert led Colorado School of Mines with two hits in four at-bats with a run scored. Rodgers started on the bump for the visitors, going 7.2 innings and giving up eight runs and nine hits with five walks to fall to 2-2 in 2015.
The Cowboys return to action Thursday (April 2) in Denver against Metropolitan State University of Denver. First pitch scheduled for 5 p.m.
