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PUEBLO, Colo. – The Cowboys surrendered 11 hits and a baserunner in every inning, but New Mexico Highlands (7-4, 1-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) rallied from a 3-0 deficit to clip #25 CSU Pueblo (10-3, 2-1 RMAC) 4-3 in baseball action Friday night (March 6) in Pueblo, Colorado.
Highlands improves to 3-1 on the year against ranked foes.
"This was a great win for the guys," head coach
Shannon Hunt explained. "They battled tough weather the last two weeks and rolled off the bus today and beat a good team.
Trailing 3-0 after allowing an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth, the Cowboys finally got to Thunderwolves starter Zac Wittmus. Junior
Jesus Caporal led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on senior
Colby Wilmer's double. A groundout put the Cowboys on the board, but Highlands grounded into a tag out at home. With two down, fifth-year senior
Matthew Chavez extended his hitting streak to nine games when he doubled to left field. Senior
Nick Gonzales just beat the throw home and the Cowboys trailed 3-2.
After sophomore starter
Phil Trujillo got a double play to get out of the sixth, the Cowboys manufactured a pair of runs. Senior
Joe Cervantes walked to begin the inning and advanced to third on junior
Kenneth Fudge's double. Caporal flew out to right and Cervantes just beat the ball home to tie the game. Fudge – now at third – scored what proved to be the winning run on a wild pitch.
Cervantes led the Cowboys from the plate, going 2-for-3 and a run scored. Trujillo (2-1) picked up the win, allowing six hits and three runs (two earned) with a trio off strikeouts in six innings pitched. Freshman
Mike Chavez allowed four hits, but no runs in two innings of relief while senior
Morgan McCasland picked up his second save with two strikeouts in the ninth.
"Phil kept us in the game to allow the offense a chance and
Mike Chavez came up big with the hold," Hunt said. "Then Mo came in to close – the kid just competes, what can I say? The defense was excellent as well. The two errors were minor and we got the big outs when we needed them.
"I am proud of the guys. They played well," Hunt added.
The Thunderwolves plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the second and one run in the fifth. Mike Wagner singled, advanced to second on a walk and went to third on a throwing error. A wild pitch put a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs. However, Trujillo got a groundout, sacrifice fly and a flyout that produced a pair of runs but shut the door on CSU Pueblo.
With one on and two outs bottom of the fifth, Anthony Mascorro doubled to put men on the corners. However, an error plated a CSU Pueblo run while Mascorro was thrown out at third.
Wagner had a hit in all four at-bats with a run to lead the Thunderwolves. Tyler Rich (1-1) picked up the loss in relief, allowing one hit and one walk that both scored in 0.1 innings pitched. Whitmus started for CSU Pueblo, allowing four hits and two runs while striking out seven in six innings of work.
The Cowboys return to action tomorrow with a pair of games against CSU Pueblo, both seven innings, beginning at 1 p.m.
