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Home > Sports

Runners rise to occasion

By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

When you’re performing as well as Metro’s baseball team has been playing this year, it seems like nothing can go wrong.

The Roadrunners fought through a pitching duel, a furious late inning rally and a large deficit March 14-16 to take all four games against the highly touted Mavericks of Mesa State at Auraria Field.

“You got a lot of guys out here competing with a lot of heart,” Metro head coach Bobby Pierce said. “There’s a lot of belief there and it’s a gut-check crew. These guys grind it through and do what they do to win games.”

As soon as Metro first baseman Terry Abshire caught the last out of the series, the players ran out onto the field to hug one another and celebrate a series victory that may have been impossible in the past.

“It feels really good to sweep them because they’re always so good in the conference,” Metro second baseman Troy Spahn said. “To get the four wins and sweep these guys is awesome.”

Metro pitcher Joel Lockhart was ecstatic about the team’s triumpant victories, but knew the team was ready to battle with the conference heavyweight.

“It’s a great feeling,” Lockhart said. “But I expect it out of us. We expect a lot out of ourselves, and we knew if we played well, we could win.”

The series featured the top two teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with Mesa State leading the conference with an 8-0 record. That was nothing new for the Mavericks, who, year in and year out, are known for their dominance in the conference, but the Roadrunners usually reside at the bottom of the standings. Things are different this year as Metro also came into the matchup without a loss in the conference at 7-0.

After Friday’s impressive 10-7 win over Mesa State’s top pitcher Jack Amidei, who held an unblemished record at 5-0 before the loss to Metro, Saturday’s games were just as striking as the team took both games in dramatic fashion.

In the first contest, the Roadrunners carried a 12-8 lead heading into the final inning when the Mavericks put together a solid charge to try and steal the game away. After relief pitcher Josh Eckert quickly recorded two outs, Mesa State scored three runs on the senior. With two men on base, Pierce brought in pitcher Derek Colbert to stop the bleeding and did so by getting second baseman Andrew Martinez to fly out.

A pitching duel took place in game two of the doubleheader. Mavericks pitcher Chris Carma and Metro pitcher Lockhart came into the contest sporting similar records at 3-1.

Carma gave up a first-inning run to Metro when outfielder Jake Palmer doubled in first baseman Alex Krohn. But that would be the last run the ’Runners would see for a while as the Mavericks’ left hander kept them off balance at the plate.

On the other side of the mound, Lockhart held the opposition hitless until the third and kept Mesa State off the scoreboard until the sixth inning when shortstop Mike Provencher blasted a pitch over the left field wall.

With the score tied 1-1 heading into the final inning, Carma’s electric stuff began to cool off as Metro finally mustered up some baserunners. After Metro right fielder Marcel Dominguez reached first on a fielder’s choice, Abshire walked. Metro catcher Reece Gorman flew out to record the inning’s first out, but Palmer then reached base and Carma loaded the bases with a walk.

Metro outfielder Mike Coffey, who entered the game in the sixth inning to pinch run, singled in Dominguez to take the 2-1 victory.

Coffey may have been the hero in the bottom of the seventh, but it was the steady arm of Lockhart who kept the mighty bats of Mesa State at bay.

As well as Lockhart pitched, he chalked it up to his defense who kept runners off the basebaths. Pierce said that despite his pitcher keeping the Mavericks off the scoreboard, he was a little hoarse in the first few innings.

“At first, I thought I was going to lose my voice cause (Lockhart) wasn’t making any adjustments on the mound earlier in the game,” Pierce said. “He was lucky they missed some barrels and some balls were hit right at people. But he settled down, got a mechanically sound delivery and was pretty good.”

The ’Runners completed the sweep Sunday by erasing a 5-0 deficit with a six-run seventh inning. The rally was spurred by Spahn who tripled with the bases loaded. Spahn was part of the team who lost seven of eight games to Mesa State last year and knew how important it was to get these wins under their belts.

“All series long, they had been throwing me first-pitch fastballs, and I just got a good pitch and hit it well,” Spahn said on the pitch he sent to the outfield for a triple. “It’s a huge confidence builder for the team, especially going into the rest of the season.”

The four wins improve the Roadrunners record to 20-4 overall and remained undefeated in conference play at 11-0. They continue with RMAC action March 20 through March 24 in a four-game set with Regis University in Denver.

Pierce was happy his team could enjoy an astounding win over such an outstanding foe, but just like every good coach, they forget about the series as soon as the last out is recorded, and they begin to focus on the next game.

“I’m pretty excited, but nothing extraordinary simply because next weekend we have Regis in a short series, and they are the best hitting team in the league,” Pierce said. “If we get happy and celebrate on (sweep of Mesa), Regis could turn around and do the same thing to us.”