‘Runners struggle in Pacific Northwest

Metro baseball drops four games, falls below .500
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

   Metro baseball had won seven of its past nine games to achieve a winning a record for the second time this season. But it only took one weekend against Western Oregon to fall back under .500 as the Wolves swept the Roadrunners in a three-game series over the weekend.
   “ We just didn’t come ready to play,” head coach Vince Porreco. “When we got down, we were done and we didn’t fight back.”
   Western Oregon hammered Metro’s pitching and scored at least seven runs in every game. Adversely, Metro left its hitting at home, as they posted run totals of two, four and eight respectively. The ‘Runners scored eight runs in the opener, but allowed 18 runs on 14 hits with two errors, a walk, and five hit batsmen.
   With the score at 8-3, the Roadrunners closed the gap with a three-run seventh inning.
Sophomore Reece Gorman started the seventh by reaching second base on an error and stolen base.
   After senior Mike Hoefs grounded out, freshman Dakota Nahm singled in Gorman and then scored himself on junior Brent Bowers’s single. Junior Kyle Bowman set the score at 8-6 after bringing home Bowers for his sixth RBI of the season.
   The Wolves staved off the Roadrunner comeback by lighting up the scoreboard with 10 runs in their half of the seventh inning. Sophomore Scott Covell, who came in for Bright, forced the first batter he saw to fly out.
   The second out of that inning wasn’t recorded until after 12 Wolves batters scored 10 runs on six hits, three hit batsmen, three walks and a grand slam by senior Matt Skundrick.
   The inning finally ended with an 18-6 Western Oregon lead. The final score was 18-8 after Gorman hit a two run homerun in the eighth inning to finish off the scoring for Metro.
   “We came out hitting in the first game but we couldn’t put anything together to keep up with them.” Porreco said “The pitching performances were not as good as they have been in the past and we could not provide enough support to keep ourselves in the game.”
   Games three and four saw Metro produce a total of 13 hits, six runs and six errors in 7-4 and 7-2 losses. Out of the 16 combined innings played by Metro in the two games, the team only scored in three of them.
   On the other side, the Wolves scored in eight of 15 innings played. In the 7-4 loss, Metro saw freshman J.T. Eilertson win his first game of the year as he pitched eight and two-thirds innings, giving up only four runs on nine hits, striking out four Roadrunners.
Junior Jacob Cathey got his first save of the year as he got junior D.J. Edwards to ground out to end the game.
   Roadrunner third baseman Brent Bowers committed four errors on the day. Three of them extended innings, and allowed Western Oregon to score three runs. It turned out to be the difference in the game.
   Game three saw Metro take its first lead of the series by scoring two runs in the first inning.
   Edwards sparked the inning by walking and then advancing to second on a passed ball.
   Sophomore Reece Gorman singled in Edwards to start the scoring, and later scored on an error by junior shortstop Paul Fisher.
   Metro’s scoring ended there, and the ‘Runners were shutout for the rest of the game by Wolves pitcher Andrew Renyer. He held Metro to only two runs—one earned—on four hits, while fanning six Metro batters.
   Junior Braden Ham (5-3) took the loss as he allowed seven runs on eight hits with five strikeouts in a complete game effort.
   Metro continued its road trip further north to Ellensburg, Wash. for a two game series against the Wildcats of Central Washington. But the road woes continued for Metro as the pitching gave up 17 runs on 18 hits while the defense committed six errors in a 17-6 loss.
   Metro junior Mike Bilek was the first pitcher to get rocked by throwing 108 pitches in only four innings and allowing nine runs—five earned—on 10 hits, including a wild pitch and a hit batter.    Freshman Vincent Vasquez was hammered in his three innings pitched giving up four runs—two earned—on five hits, while striking out three.
   The final victim in the Wildcats’ scoring onslaught was sophomore Scott Covell, who pitched the eighth inning and gave up a grand slam tosenior Chris Sepanski.
   Bilek lost his fourth game of the year, while junior Rick Templeton (1-0) cruised through the six innings he pitched, spreading out two runs on four hits.
   Metro avoided the road sweep by taking game two from Central Washington 6-1. The Roadrunners used a four run second inning and great pitching from Bright to win their first game in their last six tries.
   Although the win does not erase the bad taste of getting manhandled in the previous four games, Porreco mentioned that it was a very important win. “The win showed the character of the team as they strapped it back on after the four losses and came fired up to play.” Porrecco emphasized. “The next three weekends are going to important for us as the Rocky Mountain Athletic    Conference (RMAC) is still up for grabs and it will be good to get back home to make a run at it.”    The Roadrunners will look forward to some good home cooking as they return to Auraria Field for a four game series against Colorado Christian starting Friday, April 21.