Buffaloes sweep Denver Pioneers, outscoring them 33-5

Colorado Buffaloes baseball rolled by the Denver Pioneers in the first-ever series between the two clubs. (Photo by Jacob Hock/Sko Buffs Sports)

The Colorado Buffaloes club baseball team is off to a hot start this fall. The Buffaloes absolutely demolished the Denver Pioneers in their home opener. Colorado scored a whopping 23 runs while only giving up a single run to the Pioneers in their first game of a doubleheader. 

The black and gold were greatly aided by poor defense and less-than-average pitching from the Pioneers. 

Infielder Will Roberts hit a double in the first, bringing senior outfielder Nathan Hoffman around to score. Alex Weston popped up to centerfield, but the Denver outfielder could not catch it, leading to two more runs for the Buffaloes. 

Evan Lawrentz proceeded to hit the ball up the middle, bringing Weston around to score a run and making it 4-0. 

The Pioneers had a clean second inning, giving up no additional runs, while the third inning brought two additional runs to the Buffaloes’ total. 

Colorado added five more runs to its lead due to additional errors from the Pioneers in the fourth. 

Denver was able to score a single run in the fifth inning, but proceeded to give up six more runs in the bottom half due to poor defense. 

DU was given multiple opportunities to get outs, but could not produce. Its right fielder and first basemen were notably shaky, being the cause of many errors that allowed runs to score. 

Pioneer pitching lost control of the ball many times, also causing wild pitches and multiple hit-by-pitches on the Buffs. 

The sixth inning brought the Buffs six more runs, bringing their score to 23-1, which was the final. The game ended by mercy rule in the seventh inning. 

Colorado started the second game down 4-0 after the first inning, but first baseman Rishi Nair hit a bomb off the opposing pitcher to put the Buffaloes on the board in the second.  Another run scored that inning, putting the Buffs within two. 

Nair’s home run was the first of the season by a Buff. 

“It felt great. I haven’t hit one since last fall, so I’m glad to have seen one go out,” Nair said after the game.

In the third inning, CU scored another two runs, tying the game up. It stayed tied until the fifth.

Finn Simones hit a sacrifice fly out to right field, bringing in the go-ahead run. Then came Caedon Meyer, who hit his first home run ever as a Buffalo, bringing in an additional pair of runs.  

“It felt really good. It’s been a while since I’ve had one, and it came at a big time in the game, so it felt good to get that and kind of get us over the hump,” Meyer said after the game. 

After the fifth inning, the Buffs were up 8-4 and tacked on another two runs in the sixth, bringing the final score of 10 runs to the Buffs and four runs to the Pioneers. 

The second game also ended in the seventh inning, being called by the umpires after going over the time limit. 

The Buffaloes are now 3-1 on the season and take on the Colorado School of Mines on Oct. 4 and 5 at Scott Carpenter Park.