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Ham's lightning strikes not enough
Offense scores 0 runs as weather finishes pitcher's solid game
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

Metro’s baseball team only took one win in a three-game series against Regis March 23 and 25 at Auraria Field, but the lone 12-6 victory ended an 11-game losing streak and showed signs of a possible turnaround.

“I think it’s a sign of things coming through,” Metro head coach Bobby Pierce said. “As the weather gets a little better, we get to hit more. In Friday’s game, we hit seven or eight balls right on the nose, but it was line drives right at people. The next game, we scored 12 runs and got 14 hits, and we swung the bat the same.”

The losing streak dated back to March 9, when Metro defeated New Mexico Highlands 2-1 in the first game of a four-game series at home. They went on to lose the next three games of the series by a combined score of 35-11.

At that time, pitching was a concern, as the Roadrunners gave up an average of seven runs per game. But as Metro reaches the halfway point of the season, the hitting is now the issue, as they have only scored in double figures twice in the losing streak and have scored two runs or less in six of those games.

The lack of run production was never more apparent than in the first game of the three-game series against Regis on March 23 at Auraria Field.

The game featured a pitching duel between Metro pitcher Braden Ham and Regis pitcher Craig Deaver. Both pitchers took a no-hitter into the third inning as Ham retired the first seven batters he faced, striking out three Rangers. Deaver also struck out three in putting away the first eight batters the Roadrunners brought to the plate.

With the game still scoreless heading into the top of the fourth inning, the Rangers led off the inning with a double from designated hitter Sean Chase, who sent Ham’s pitch to the left-field gap. Right fielder Brad Schumacher then singled to center field, allowing Chase to come in for the run and the 1-0 lead. After Ham walked second baseman David Losasso, moving Schumacher to second, the senior pitcher buckled down and ended the inning with a flyout and a strikeout.

That was the only blemish between Ham and Deaver as they allowed only four more hits over the next four innings. The two hurlers looked primed to put on a stellar finish that would light up any baseball stadium in the world. But at second glance it was only the lightning from the muggy sky that put a damper on the game.

The umpires temporarily suspended the game due to lightning. After an hour of allowing the thunderstorm to move past Auraria Field the game resumed, but without the men who started on the mound for both teams.

With an inning and a half to play, Metro needed to put some men on base in order to steal the game away from Regis. Up to the eighth inning of the game, the Roadrunners had only managed three hits off Deaver and looked to take advantage of the pitching change. Pitcher Derek Brym came in for the Rangers and allowed Marcel Dominguez to reach base on a single, but the senior pitcher struck out two and got a groundout to escape the inning.

In the final attempt for the ’Runners to pull out a win, center fielder Kyle Bowman singled to start a rally in the bottom of the ninth. He moved to second base on a Kyle Christiansen groundout and later advanced to third on a wild pitch.

With a small crowd still lingering around after surviving the rain and lightning, Jake Palmer stepped to the plate with two outs left on the scoreboard. But the crowd did not get rewarded for their patience as Palmer struck out swinging to end the game, allowing the losing streak to continue.

“It was very frustrating when you get a start like that,” Pierce said on Ham’s one-run game. “He was near perfect. If he continues to give us that performance, which is hard to ask from a guy, he’s going to win out on that side more often than not.”

Ham finished the day pitching eight innings allowing only one run on five hits while striking out seven Rangers. He did walk five batters, but none crossed home plate. Ham started the game striking out the first two batters of the game and allowed only the lone run in the fourth inning.

Eight of the nine starters got at least one run and one hit in a 12-6 victory over Regis, and Metro capitalized on three Rangers errors to finally get back into the win column in the first game of a doubleheader on March 25. Metro went on to lose the second game 5-1 as the hitting woes resurfaced. The ’Runners mustered just three hits, with two from third baseman Brent Bowers.

The Roadrunners (5-20, 4-11 RMAC) head on the road for a four-game set with Colorado State-Pueblo March 30 and April 1 in Pueblo. Metro lost the previous two meetings with the Thunderwolves, but Pierce has his team forgetting about those games as well as every other loss they have endured so far this season.

“We just have to keep moving forward,” Pierce said. “It’s been a tough year, but we just need to forget about that, as there is a lot of baseball left.”