By: Cody Bush, Associate Commissioner / Strategic Communications
TYLER, Texas – Colorado Mesa University advanced to a best of three series against host UT Tyler in the opening day of the NCAA Baseball Championship's South Central Region 2 on Thursday at Irwin Field.
The Mavericks and Patriots begin the three-game set with a 6 p.m. Friday contest. The series continues Saturday with Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 3. The winner of the series advances to face the winner of South Central Region 1 in a Super Regional next weekend.
MSU Denver, the No. 6 seed in the South Central region, was eliminated with losses to Colorado Mesa and UT Tyler on Thursday.
South Central Region 2 Recaps: Thursday
No. 3 Colorado Mesa def. No. 6 MSU Denver, 5-2
No. 2 UT Tyler def. No. 6 MSU Denver, 12-3
No. 3 Colorado Mesa def. No. 6 MSU Denver, 5-2
Colorado Mesa scored twice after an error in the fifth inning to down MSU Denver, 5-2, in the opening game of the NCAA Baseball Championship's South Central Region 2 on Thursday. The fourth meeting between the Mavericks and Roadrunners in seven days saw CMU score in the first inning before the teams traded runs in the fourth and MSU Denver tied the game again with a run in the top of the fifth. But a MSU Denver error in the bottom of the fifth gave Colorado Mesa two runners on base with no outs and they used a sacrifice bunt and a groundout to score the tiebreaking run. A wild pitch and a hit by pitch brought Ethan Ezor to the plate with runners on the corners and he delivered an RBI single for a 4-2 lead. Kennedy Hara would tack on an insurance run in the seventh but it proved unnecessary as the Mavericks' bullpen provided 4.2 scoreless innings with Cayden Clark (2-1) picking up the win and closer JJ Almeda notching his fifth save.
No. 2 UT Tyler def. No. 6 MSU Denver, 12-3
UT Tyler scored six runs in the third inning to break open a tie game and pulled away for a 12-3 victory to eliminate MSU Denver in the second game of the NCAA Baseball Championship's South Central Region 2 on Thursday. The Patriots scored in the first on a squeeze bunt and the Roadrunners leveled the score in the top of the third with Erubiel Ortiz's RBI fielder's choice. However, UT Tyler saw the first five batters reach base safely in the bottom of the third resulting in three runs before it added two more runs after the inning's first out. The Roadrunners would get runs on the baord in the fourth and sixth innings but the host Patriots scored a run in the sixth before adding four runs in the eighth to secure the win. Eric Rasmussen followed his 2-for-4 outing against Colorado Mesa with a 3-for-4 outing against UT Tyler