Cowboys split with Colorado School of Mines, move to 7th in RMAC standings

Golden, CO --- The New Mexico Highlands baseball team traveled to Golden, CO where they walked away with a two-game split with Colorado School of Mines after a 6-5 win in 12 innings in game one.
 
The Cowboys scored the first run of the afternoon as Jesus Chavez opened up the top of the second inning with a lead-off double before Eric Papas scored Chavez with a single of his own. Ashton Roy then stepped in to knock a two-run homerun over the right-field fence to give the Cowboys an early 3-0 lead.
 
After holding the Oredigges scoreless in the bottom half of the second inning, the Cowboys managed another run on the top of the third inning to take a commanding 4-0 lead before the Orediggers exploded for five runs in the bottom of the third to take their only lead over the game.
 
The Cowboys and the Orediggers then played four straight innings of scoreless baseball before Kalen Hammer hit a two-out double to center-field and Gaylan Young walked to set up Joe Kuhn to tie the game with a single of his own to center field to tie the game at 5.
 
In the top half of the ninth, Aidan McNichol hit a lead-off single and Papas moved McNichol to second with a sacrifice bunt, but Cobe Lehman and Roy couldn't bring McNichol in and the Orediggers left two runners on base in their half of the ninth to send the game in to extra innings.
 
The Cowboys left a runner on base in the tenth and eleventh innings before Estevan De La O gave the Cowboys life as he reached on a walk with one out in the twelfth inning. An attempt to steal second by De La O caused an Oredigger error that allowed Estevan to advance to third base to set up a sacrifice-fly from Hammer to bring in the game-winning run.
 
John Slape (2 saves) came in to the game to pitch in a save situation for the Cowboys to force three-up-three-down for the Orediggers and give the Cowboys a 6-5 win. Brady Salyards earned his third win of the season after throwing 5.1 innings after holding the Orediggers to 0 runs off 2 hits and 3 strikeouts.
 
Young and McNichol tallied three hits apiece to lead the Cowboys while Ashton Roy led with 2 RBI.
 
The day wasn't finished with exciting baseball as the Orediggers used a blooper to right field to win game two in walk-off fashion.
 
The Cowboys jumped on the Orediggers by taking advantage of some pitching mistakes and taking a 1-0 lead after the top of the second inning, but the Orediggers responded with a run of their own in the bottom half to tie the game at 1 before taking a 2-1 lead after the third inning.
 
Jared Brown knocked a lead-off single in the top of the fourth inning and moved to second on a wild pitch before moving to third with a deep hit ball to center field by Jesus Chavez.
 
Charles Morgan then stepped in to score Brown and tied the game at 2 with a two-bagger before Lehman gave the Cowboys the lead with a triple to right-center.
 
 
Angel Castillo held the Orediggers to one hit in the fifth and one hit in the sixth before a turn of events unfolded in the bottom of the seventh for the Cowboys. Trevor Howard started out by getting pegged by Castillo before a sacrifice-bunt attempt from Alex Bumpus down the third base line caused a bad throw from Eric Papas to first base and allowed the runners to move up 60 feet. A shallow hit to right field and a late throw at the plate from Joe Kuhn in right field scored 2 for the Orediggers to give them a 4-3 win.
 
Young, Brown, Chavez, Morgan, and Lehman all recorded a hit for the Cowboys as Angel Castillo, who moves to 3-3 on the season, threw for his second complete game in as many weeks giving up 4 runs off 6 hits and 4 strikeouts.
 
The Cowboys move to 7^th place in the RMAC standings and will now begin a four-game series at Regis, which will begin at 3 pm today to finalize conference play. The Cowboys sit 2 games behind CSU Pueblo and Colorado Christian for the final two spots of the RMAC tournament as the ThunderWolves end on the road with UCCS and the Cougars travel to #1 Colorado Mesa. You can follow along with the links provided. WATCH | LIVE STATS
 
GO COWBOYS!!!