COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. --- The New Mexico Highlands baseball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader Sunday to UC Colorado Springs, 8-2 and 9-5, at Mountain Lion Park.
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In the first game, the Cowboys (9-20 overall, 2-14 overall) took a quick 1-0 lead on the Mountain Lions (18-12, 10-6) as an
Auggie Francis lead-off walk and
Joe Cilladi bunt single led to a two-out, RBI single from
Eloy Reyna.
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But UCCS scored the next seven runs – one in the second, three in the fourth and three in the fifth – to take a 7-1 lead before a Reyna solo home run to left made it 7-2. The Mountain Lions added a solo home run of their own in the sixth to make the final 8-2.
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Reyna paced the Cowboys, going 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI while
Justin DeHoog was 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles – but NMHU only mustered one other hit in the game (the Cilladi bunt single in the first).
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J.T. Mossberg picked up the loss, going 4.1 innings and giving up seven runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
James Janco pitched the final 1.2 innings, giving up a run on three hits with a strikeout.
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In game two, the Cowboys fell behind 8-0 after two innings before getting back into the game with a big third inning. Francis led the inning off with a home run to left (his sixth of the season),
Gaylan Young doubled,
Carlos Ramirez drove Young in with an RBI double,
Cody Reilly then doubled to score a run and
Brandon Baier hit a two-run double to make it 8-5.
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But that is as close as the Cowboys got as UCCS answered with a run of its own in the third and neither team scored over the final four innings as NMHU fell 9-5.
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Young led the Cowboys at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles while Reilly was 2-for-3.
Kyle Bedsole after the rocky start went the distance, going six innings and giving up nine runs (eight earned) on eight hits with five strikeouts and three walks.
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NMHU returns home this week as the Cowboys host a four-game series against Regis starting 3 p.m. Friday at Brandt Field.
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