COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Colorado club baseball team began its season last weekend in a competitive four-team round-robin tournament, featuring the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies, Texas Longhorns, and Iowa Hawkeyes. The Buffs returned to Boulder with a 1-3 record, losing both games to A&M but capturing a dominant victory over Iowa.
The tournament began on Friday against Texas A&M, ranked as the fourth-best team in the nation by the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) before the season. The Aggies got bumped up a spot after monopolizing the rest of the round-robin, outscoring their opponents by 30 runs across four games.
CU was their first victim, as the Aggies mounted a four-run comeback to win 7-5. This was a good loss for the Buffaloes as they battled against arguably the best clubhouse in the nation, but it was poor pitching that once again caught up to them.
Junior Will Shine was the starting pitcher and got off to an immense start, giving up one run on five hits in his first five innings. Nonetheless, it was two runs in the sixth and four in the seventh that ultimately gave the Aggies the win. Freshman Archie Neibart struggled out of the bullpen, giving up three runs off a pair of hits while only recording one out. Ryder Jaquez was able to clean up the mess, shoving the final two frames without giving up an earned run.
Offensively, seven different Buffs tallied a hit, led by freshman Richie Biborosch who got three RBI off two knocks. NCBA Now preseason All-American Nathan Hoffman also got a pair of hits, including a double. The lineup was plagued with strikeouts, as Texas A&M pitcher Daelan Fears collected 10 across five innings. The offense would finish with a sickening 17 punch-outs.
After the loss, Colorado would play a triple-header on Saturday. CU’s early game against the Longhorns was a barnburner, with 23 combined hits in a one-run loss.
It was a similar script to Friday’s game, as the Buffs would jump to a 6-0 lead after the second inning. Newcomer freshman Colin Dwyer had a good game, batting 2-for-3 with a run batted in. Four Buffs had two-hit games: Dwyer, sophomore Luca Genovese, junior Nathan Tunks and senior Matt Pritchard.
Pitching rode a strong start from sophomore Salvatore Tampini, who surrendered three runs off five frames. Hoffman fared well out of the bullpen, only seeing eight batters but walking three and giving up a run. Sophomore Jack Estes would give Texas six runs in the top of the seventh. A three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth wasn’t enough to force extras, as the Buffs would drop to 0-2.
CU would finally see its efforts turn around against the Hawkeyes, defeating them 9-3 in the triple-header’s sandwich game. Everything came together in the win, as CU only showed two arms with offensive production throughout the lineup. Sophomore starter Victor Moreno would pitch six, only appeasing one earned run and seven strikeouts, while Neibart got his revenge, pitching three no-hit innings to close out the game.
Seven Buffs would get a hit, including a 3-for-4 day from senior Spencer Kazmarski. Freshman Charlie Lesch would leave the yard for the first home run of the season, already matching the team’s total from the fall season. Already up two in the top of the ninth, CU rallied four runs to put the game on ice.
“We’re only going to continue to get better from here,” senior President and first baseman Andrew Garcia said. “It was great to secure a win over Iowa who is in our region.”
With a 1-2 record, a rematch against Texas A&M was the final stop in the tournament. The Aggies would continue their dominion with a 13-5 victory, capitalizing off poor defense. CU would tally four errors this game, leading to 13 opposing runs off only eight hits.
Five arms would see innings this game, including sophomore Wes Barnett who made his debut giving up three earned runs across three frames. Fifteen batters made their way through the lineup but only noted seven hits, four split by Hoffman and freshman Evan Lawrentz.
Colorado sits at 1-3 and will get an extra weekend to prepare before hosting their first conference opponent, the Metropolitan State Roadrunners. Head coach Mark Goodman listed three main aspects to work on before the weekend of March 7: Cut down on walks, turn double plays and improve situational hitting.
Over the four games of this tournament, the Buffs gave out 30 walks. It was a problem last fall, and after one series this spring, it only affected the bullpen. Starters like Shine, Timpani and Moreno all have solid walks plus hits per inning (WHIP) hovering around 1.50, while arms in the bullpen see that number quickly rise into the threes and fours. Granted, this is a very small sample size, and the team did improve every series last fall.
Through four games, Hoffman, Kazmarski and Dywer lead the pack offensively with batting averages over .385, and Biborosch and Lesch both hold four RBI.
“I thought our team did well for the first time out on the field,” Goodman said. “There is definitely more in the tank and we need to do the little things better but it’s good to know we can only get better.”
The Buffs welcome Metro State to Scott Carpenter Field on March 7 and 8, streamed exclusively on the Sko Buffs Sports YouTube channel.
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