| Metro breaks even
on road
‘Runners
show life; move to one game under .500
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu
Metro players (from left) Reece Gorman, Ryan Bright
and Kyle Christensen celebrate their 11-7 victory over
Colorado Christian March 14. After winning seven of
the last nine games, the Roadrunners find themselves
just one game under .500.
Photo by Emily Varisco • varisco@mscd.edu
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Metro
split a four-game series at nationally
ranked Fort Hays State this past weekend
and brought its season record to 6-8. Fort Hays came into the
weekend ranked 29th in Division II with a record of 15-3.
“
When you go over there and split with them, you accomplish
something,” head coach Vince Porreco said about his team’s
road trip to Hays, Kansas.
“
It’s a tough place to play—the elements, the field—they
are very strong at home, and they have been playing well.”
The series began Friday and saw senior pitcher
Ryan Bright cruise to his second win of the year by pitching
all nine innings,
allowing
one run on 10 hits and three strikeouts.
The win evened Bright’s record to 2-2.“
We (starting pitchers) are all struggling right now and we
gotta be the ones to step up,” Bright said.
He also said the starting pitchers had a good weekend despite
the split. “You would think it would be nice to get a
split, but, realistically, we could have come out with a lot
more (wins).”
There was little offense to speak of in the game, but sophomore
Jake Palmer provided just enough as he went 3-for-5 with two
runs, one RBI, and his second homerun of the year.
With the game tied at one run apiece entering
the sixth inning, RBI singles by junior Alex Krohn and freshman
Tommy Frikken gave Metro a 3-1 lead that they never relinquished.
Game two saw Metro’s offense disappear
as the ‘Runners put up only a single run in a 4-1 loss.
Fort Hays junior Tyler Nuss pitched a fantastic
game as he went five innings, giving
up only one run on three hits while striking
out eight Roadrunners.
Senior Scott Drobeck finished the final two innings, allowing
one hit and striking out three to record his first save of
the season.
Jake Palmer had the lone run for Metro as
he hit his second homerun of the series.
Sophomore Josh Eckert saw his record drop to 1-3, despite pitching
his second complete
game of the year.
On the final day of the weekend series, Metro
took game three as both the pitching
and hitting came together to defeat Fort Hays 8-3.
The game featured a pitching duel between
Metro’s junior Braden Ham and Fort Hays’ senior
Dallas Christison. Each pitcher allowed only three runs apiece
through the game’s first five innings.
In the top of the final inning, junior D.J.
Edwards singled in two runs to give Metro a 5-3 lead. Senior
Mike Hoefs, who
won RMAC Player-of-the-Week for hitting three grandslams against
St. Cloud State (Minn.) last weekend, singled in a run and
then scored off a Jake Palmer homerun that finished
off the scoring at 8-3.
Ham, who went this distance in this game,
finished with a 1-2-3 inning to win his second game of the
year.
Tiger’s senior pitcher Nick Butler recorded
the loss as he gave up five runs on five hits in one inning
of work.
The weekend concluded with a 2-1 Roadrunner
loss that saw the combination
of Fort Hays junior pitchers Cameron Young and Tom Goodwin
allow only one run in nine innings of work.
Young kept the Roadrunners off the board in six innings, giving
up only seven hits.
Goodwin finished the final three innings, giving up one hit
and one run in obtaining his first save of the season.
Junior Mike Bilek pitched seven strong innings, allowing only
one earned run on five hits and eight strikeouts.
Metro’s offense, which out hit Fort Hays 8-5, could not
take advantage of those base runners as in the case of the
fifth inning when the Roadrunners had bases loaded and no outs
and could not bring around a single run.
Porreco emphasized that it was timely hitting that gave his
team the two losses and they put themselves in great situations,
but just did not come up with the big hit.
Junior Alex Krohn came up with the only RBI in the final game
with a single that brought home junior Kyle Bowman from third.
The split on the weekend gave Metro a 2-2 record in Rocky Mountain
Athletic Conference
play.
Metro, in a makeup game Tuesday, saw its offense come alive
as the ‘Runners defeated
Colorado Christian 11-7.
The game saw 10 different pitchers, 10 errors,
20 hits, and 18 totals runs as the Roadrunners
came one game closer to reaching the .500 mark.
Hoefs and sophomore Reece Gorman led the team with three RBI
apiece as Metro used a four-run eighth inning to break a 7-7
tie.
“ The biggest thing was we won the ballgame.”Porreco said of the win. “It was not a pretty win, or
the best one we had, but we came out with the win.”
Metro continues RMAC play this weekend
at home in a four-game conferenceseries
against New Mexico Highlands March 17-19.
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