By: A.J. Vazquez, Strategic Communications & Marketing Intern

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Day two of the 2026 RMAC Baseball Championship was just as electrifying as the first, with all three contests going down to the wire. Three teams battled to stay alive in the tournament with their backs against the wall in elimination games, and five teams remain. 

Colorado School of Mines survived elimination, defeating Regis in the opening game of the day. CSU Pueblo outlasted Colorado Mesa in extra innings to advance to the semifinals, upsetting the top-seeded Mavericks and the No. 2 team in the country. MSU Denver remains undefeated in the tournament with their win against UCCS.  

Game 4: No. 5 Colorado School of Mines def. No. 6 Regis, 19-17 

Regis picked up right where they left off in last night’s opening round match, jumping to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, capitalizing off two errors. The Orediggers quickly responded with two runs of their own, courtesy of Alex Dunagan and Brody Duvall. Colorado School of Mines grabbed its first lead of the game after Dunagan posted a two-run double, along with two more runs before the end of the second inning, to make it 6-3. In the fourth inning, the Rangers regained the advantage, 7-6, after three consecutive walks and Jack Moulin driving in Dylan Hearn. A sacrifice fly brought home Dylan Perry, and Linus Fleek was brought home by Bobo Iandoli. The Orediggers tied it up with an unearned run in the bottom of the inning before Regis exploded in the top of the fifth. The Rangers tallied five hits for six runs, highlighted by a three-run homer from Ethan Wood to make the score 13-7. 

The Rangers shut out the Orediggers in the sixth, but Colorado School of Mines rallied after the seventh-inning stretch, scoring nine unanswered runs across the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, six hits led to seven runs, and in the eighth, Alex Dunagan knocked a leadoff home run while Alex Freund scored on an error to bring the score to 19-14. Regis answered in the ninth, with Wood, Iandoli, and Park Romney singling to load the bases. A sacrifice fly sent Wood home, and two hit-by-pitch RBI brought the game to 19-17, but a play at first ended the game, solidifying Colorado School of Mines’ advancement. 

Colorado School of Mines’ Dunagan led the way for the Orediggers in the elimination game, launching two home runs and driving in eight runs. Tyler Pina, along with Regis’ Wood, each had four RBI for their respective teams. 

The Orediggers will face CSU Pueblo tomorrow at 3 p.m. for a chance to advance to the championship game.  

Game 5: No. 4 CSU Pueblo def. No. 1 Colorado Mesa, 9-8 (10 Innings) 

CSU Pueblo and Colorado Mesa were neck and neck, flipping leads and exchanging momentum until the very end, when the Thunderwolves came out on top in 10 innings, 9-8. CSU Pueblo’s Jake Hixenbaugh sent the third pitch of the game over the right-center-field wall to give the ThunderWolves an early 1-0 lead. Colorado Mesa responded later in the inning on an RBI double from Cameron Cartwright, and later, Landon Nunes added an RBI to give the Mavericks the advantage. CSU Pueblo’s Frank Flores Jr. found himself in a bases-loaded situation and successfully battled back without surrendering a run. The Thunderwolves retook the lead in the top of the fifth as Jason Arriola knocked a solo home run, and Jimmy Pelletier followed suit with one of his own to make it 3-2. 

Colorado Mesa’s Trevor Tse equalized the game in the sixth with an RBI single, and Tate Blasi drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Mavericks a 4-3 lead. With the bases loaded in the top of the eighth, CSU Pueblo’s Dax Howard knocked a ball to deep center field for an inside-the-park grand slam. In the bottom of the inning, Colorado Mesa pulled within one run on a two-run double from Jackson Lapiner, then equalized the game in the ninth at 8-8 off a sacrifice fly from Nunes. Heading into extra innings, Howard opened the 10th with a single and then moved to second when Devean Alvarez was hit by a pitch. Jeremiah Sanchez delivered the game-winning RBI single that drove in Howard. The Mavericks had an opportunity to respond, but Jacob Petersheim worked around a one-out walk and retired the final two batters to seal the victory. 

Petersheim tossed two scoreless innings in relief, tallying two walks and two strikeouts for the ThunderWolves. The ThunderWolves had four players record a home run in Howard, Pelletier, Arriola, and Hixenbaugh. Howard led the game with four RBI. Colorado Mesa’s Nunes and Lapiner each recorded two RBI, while six different Mavericks scored at least one run. The game lasted 4 hours, 17 minutes. 

CSU Pueblo will now face Colorado School of Mines tomorrow at 3 p.m. Both teams face elimination with a trip to the championship game on the line. 

Game 6: No. 2 MSU Denver def. No. 3 UCCS, 7-2 

The final game of the night’s first pitch was at 9:05 p.m. due to the late end of Game 5. MSU Denver jumped out to an early lead and maintained it throughout, emerging as the only remaining undefeated team in the tournament with a 7-2 win. MSU Denver’s Marques Abul drew a walk and later got the scoring started, coming home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first. Another run would not be scored until the bottom of the third, when the Roadrunners extended their lead to 3-0, courtesy of an Abul double that sent Brooks Rasmu home before Abul later scored himself on an error. In the top of the fourth, UCCS got its first run on the board when Cayden Gonzalez singled to send Matthew Shipley home, cutting the score to 3-1. Brayden Oram responded with a home run for the Roadrunners to push the lead back to three runs. UCCS’ Tyler Genrich flied out to center field but brought Bryce Peterson home, pulling the Mountain Lions within two runs of MSU Denver. This would be UCCS’ final run of the game. 

Oram launched another home run in the bottom of the sixth, while Abul and Rasmu also came home to make it 7-2. The game reached a stalemate from there, with neither squad scoring again. 

Oram led the game with two home runs and tied the game high with two RBI alongside Noah Wicks. Genrich and Gonzalez accounted for all of UCCS’ runs. 

MSU Denver will face the winner of Game 7 between Colorado Mesa and UCCS tomorrow at 7 p.m. The deciding matchup will be played at 11 a.m. 

About the RMAC 

The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, headquartered in Colorado Springs, is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 institutions located in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Utah. The RMAC currently competes in 22 NCAA Division II sports and has earned 71 national championships and 53 national runners-up since 1992. Founded in 1909, the RMAC is the most historic athletic conference in the western United States and Division II. 

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