Cowboys drop two to No. 16 Mines on Saturday

GOLDEN, Colo. --- The New Mexico Highlands baseball team dropped a pair of games on the road to No. 16 Colorado School of Mines on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Cowboys (7-8 overall, 0-3 RMAC) dropped a one-run contest to the Orediggers (12-2, 3-0) 8-7 in the first game before dropping the second game 9-5.
 
In the first game, the Cowboys fell behind 7-0 after two innings before slowly creeping back into the game. In the third inning, the Cowboys scored five in the frame as a Garrett Hammer three-run homer punctuated the inning that also saw Joe Cilladi and Eloy Reyna smack RBI singles.
 
Mines added a run in the bottom of the third before Cilladi drove in his second run of the game on a fielder's choice in the sixth inning. Carlos Ramirez came up and hit a two-out RBI single to make it 8-7 before the Orediggers got out of the inning. NMHU went down in order in the seventh and final inning to come up just short.
 
Auggie Francis, Ramirez, Reyna and Justin DeHoog each had two hits for the Cowboys. James Janco picked up the loss, going an inning and giving up seven runs on three hits with five walks and no strikeouts. J.T. Mossberg was strong in relief, going five innings and giving up a run on three hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
 
The Cowboys again dug themselves a hole in game two as they trailed 4-0 heading into the top of the fifth before NMHU scratched across an unearned run on a Kalen Hammer single in the inning to make it 4-1. The Orediggers scored two in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-1.
 
NMHU again got within striking distance in the sixth as a lead-off walk to Jared Brown and a Ramirez double put two on with one out for Lance MacDonald. The freshman then took a 2-1 pitch and blasted his first career collegiate home run to cut the Mines lead to 6-4.
 
Again, the Orediggers answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning – and despite a Jared Brown homer to lead off the seventh – fell 9-5.
 
Kalen Hammer went 2-for-4 for the Cowboys and was the only NMHU player with multiple hits. Kaleb Whitlock went the distance to pick up the loss, giving up nine runs (eight earned) on seven hits with three strikeouts and four walks.
 
The two teams complete the four-game series noon Sunday in Golden, Colorado.