‘Runners slide into fourth place in conference
Metro moves up with series win over Mines By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

Photo by William Moore • moorwill@mscd.edu

Metro senior Randy Lashua slides safely between the legs of Colorado School of Mines catcher Mike Deal during the first game of a doubleheader April 29 at CSM Field. Metro swept Mines 9-1 and 13-2 that day.

   Metro has been riding the fifth spot in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference for a few weeks now. They have won six of their past eight games coming into this weekend against a weak Colorado School of Mines (4-20 in the RMAC).

   Only a few percentage points behind fourth place Nebraska-Kearney, the Roadrunners
needed to win the series versus the Orediggers.

   “If we play up to our potential while not playing down to our opponent, then we shall be successful and win a lot of games,” said sophomore pitcher Josh Eckert.

   Metro outplayed their opponents as they took three out of four from Mines.
   The Orediggers struck first winning game one 12-11. With Metro leading 5-4 heading into the seventh inning, the Roadrunners extended their lead by scoring two runs from senior Mike Hoefs’ solo home run and freshman Dakota Nahm’s run on a wild pitch. The Orediggers bounced right back by scoring three runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at seven. Mines allowed Metro to come back in the eighth after walking two batters and throwing two wild pitches, giving up three runs to put the Roadrunners ahead 10-7.

   The Orediggers tied the game at 10 in the bottom of the eighth when sophomore Matt Owens doubled in two runs and sophomore Nick Walker doubled in one. With the ninth inning looming, it seemed whoever had the last at-bat would be the team to win the game.

   The ninth inning began with a single by junior D.J. Edwards and then sacrificed to second by junior Kyle Christensen. Sophomore Zach Baldenegro, who came in to pinch-hit, made his lone batting appearance on the day a big one by driving in Edwards with a single down the right field line.

   It was the only run Metro could produce in the ninth inning. Hoefs, who leads the team in saves (3), started the inning for Metro after relieving freshman pitcher Vincent Vasquez in the eighth.

   Mines began the ninth with a single from sophomore Mike Deal, but was caught stealing for the first out. Junior John Naccarato then tripled after hitting the ball to the right centerfield gap. Hoefs struck out sophomore Michael Svejcar for the second out but walked junior Matt Thome to put men on the corners.

   With two outs, Owens hit a ball to sophomore third basemen Ryan Sbresny, who made an error on the play allowing the tying run to score. On the next play, sophomore Kevin Graham made a throwing error allowing the go ahead run to score giving Mines a 12-11 win.

   “It is not won and lost in the last inning,” head coach Vince Porreco said. “We had opportunities early on to put the game away or put some distance between us and we didn’t. We allowed them back in the ballgame and when you do that, these things happen.”

   Day two featured a doubleheader with Mines that turned into blowouts for Metro, who scored a combined 22 runs against the Mines’ three

   “Hoefs and Palmer on offense, Palmer is especially on fire.” Sophomore catcher Reece
Gorman said on his team’s performance in day two. “The pitching was great today. Even though I wasn’t behind the dish, Kyle (Christensen) did a great job behind the plate.”

   The first game of the doubleheader saw the Roadrunners score runs in all but one inning to go along with a strong pitching performance from Eckert giving Metro a 9-1 win. Eckert (5-6) won his second game in a row pitching all seven innings giving up one run on four hits and striking out three batters.

   Senior Randy Lashua, who hit two home runs including a three-run shot in the fifth inning that put the game away for Metro, provided the offense. Lashua finished the game going 4-for-4 with a double, three runs and four RBI.

   Game three of the series was almost a mirror image of game two as the Roadrunners
scored a number of runs to go along with great pitching in a 13-2 win over Mines.

   This time junior Braden Ham was hitting his spots as he also pitched a complete game.
“Braden threw a perfect game in my eyes only giving up two runs,” Gorman said. “It was awesome!”

   Ham only allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings while striking out two Orediggers.
Metro jumped on Mines early scoring three runs in the first and three runs in the third. With the score at 6-2, the Roadrunners blew open the lead by putting up six runs in the sixth inning including a two-run double by Lashua and a two-run home run by Christensen.

   Lashua mentioned that he had been struggling the past three weeks at the plate and wasn’t sure if he could even play on the second day. He got the chance to play and his final stats included going 6-for-7, with five runs, two doubles and six RBI.

   Metro batters annihilated Thome as he gave up 11 runs, six earned, on six hits while walking two and hitting four batters. Senior Matt Ott, who came in relief for Thome, could not do any better giving up two runs on three hits and also hitting a batter in one and one thirds inning.

   The finale came on Sunday and it was a game of base runners. One term that Porreco
has preached about all season was “timely hitting.” Timely hitting involves driving in runs at key moments, two-out hitting and taking advantage of base runners in scoring position. The Roadrunners came through with all three as they defeated the Orediggers 11-5 to take the series 3-1.

   Mines’ hitting wasn’t so timely. Though they out hit Metro 11 to 10, they could only bring home five runs leaving a total of 10 men on base. The Orediggers left men on base in six of the seven innings.

   As in game two and three, the Roadrunners scored the first three runs of the game. Gorman, who reached first on a walk, put himself into scoring position by stealing his 21st base of the season. Gorman later stole his 22nd base and has never been caught, going 22-for-22.

   Hoefs singled in Gorman for his 51st RBI on the year and sophomore Jake Palmer belted his third home run of the series over the centerfield wall.

   Every Metro starter came through with at least a run, a hit, or an RBI.
   Hoefs went 2-for-5 with 2 runs and one RBI, Christensen had two runs on 2-for-4 hitting and Lashua had two more RBI. Junior Mike Bilek (4-4) pitched seven innings giving up three runs on eight hits and striking out eight in recording the win for Metro.

   The three RMAC wins with the combination of four Nebraska-Kearney losses puts Metro into that fourth spot with one weekend to go before the RMAC playoffs. Metro (17-11) missed the RMAC playoffs by one game last year and controls their own destiny as they face Colorado State University-Pueblo, only two games above Metro in the RMAC standings.

   “We just got to keep coming out, working hard and staying focused.” Porreco said.