Club baseball bursts onto the scene in Dallas Tournament victory

Colorado gets an out during fall season, 2025. (Photo by Jacob Hock.)

The Colorado Buffaloes club baseball team began its 2026 season last weekend in Dallas, part of a five-team round-robin tournament. The Buffs went 3-1 across the circuit and showcased firm pitching, averaging 3.7 opponent runs per game in the three victories.

Friday

The tournament began with a doubleheader on Friday, Feb. 13, against North Texas and Baylor. The Buffs won both games, coming out of the gate hot and plating 21 combined runs on the day.

Senior Peter Nickerson got the Opening Day start on the mound against North Texas and began the weekend allowing just two runs across three innings. The bullpen efforts went rather smooth, with five arms finishing out the game. Sophomore catcher Charlie Lesch got his season off on the right foot, going 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run and two RBI. The Buffs won 12-5 to tee up a successful rest of the bracket. 

A couple hours later, Colorado sent out senior Will Shine to toe the slab against Baylor. He’d one-up his senior counterpart from earlier in the day and allow just one run over five innings.

“I think Will has stepped into himself,” head coach Colin Reynolds said about his start. “He’s shown pretty clearly that he’s figured out how to pitch at his level.”

Reynolds elected to go with an alternate lineup against Baylor, giving as many players chances at different positions as he can. Positions like first base, center field and right field saw a sequence of two players, while other stations like left field, third and second base saw a cycle of three to four.

“We need to [practice] outside so we can work on team defense,” Reynolds said. “I think there were a couple situations we got in defensively with guys playing new positions where they’re just not super familiar with where they need to be. We just need reps with guys in these new positions.”

Colorado bested Baylor 9-4, chasing their starter Shane Garcia in just the third inning. The Buffs made Baylor pay defensively, with three RBI off seven hits in the game, still coming around to score nine.

Sunday

Rain in Dallas postponed the Buffs’ matchup with the Texas Longhorns, setting up for another doubleheader to conclude the tournament on Sunday.

Colorado began the day with a wild game against Oklahoma, where the Buffs scored 12 but still lost by five runs. Junior Salvatore Timpani had a rough go around for his first start on the mound, surrendering nine runs by just the second inning. However, after staring down a 10-0 deficit early in the game, the Buffs rallied to take an eventual 12-10 lead.

“If we would’ve played our game from that point on, we could have won that game,” Reynolds said. “But we had a couple errors in the field and gave them a few free base runners that led to a few more runs. We just couldn’t lock that game down when we needed to.”

The Buffs were getting spread out production from the lineup in a game that left Reynolds optimistic despite the loss. Senior president Nathan Hoffman rattled three base hits for three RBI, with the team getting two or more RBI from four different players.

“The biggest takeaway for me is that our guys can battle back,” Reynolds noted.

After allowing 17 runs, Colorado rebounded in the final game to give up just two in the win over Texas, 6-2. The Buffs only had to wheel out a pair of pitchers the whole game, with freshman Tyler Gray getting the start and shoving four, then handing the ball over to Hoffman, who completed the rest of the game. Hoffman threw six innings of relief throughout the tournament and didn’t allow a single run.

Senior Cole Wayne and freshman Aidan Mehlberg combined for four hits, and sophomore Richie Biborosch connected on a three-run home run.

“After [Biborosch] hit that home run, with Nate [Hoffman] on the mound, Texas really couldn’t do anything against us offensively,” Reynolds said. “We were just cruising.”

The bullpen shined all tournament, throwing a combined 2.97 ERA. The Buffs welcomed some attention following the 3-1 start, with Lesch winning the Mid-America West Player of the Week and Hoffman winning Pitcher of the Week. Lesch ended the series 3-for-8 with a .375 batting average and scorching 1.333 OPS.

On top of that, Colorado received 53 votes in the latest NCBA Top 20 Poll, becoming the team with the second most votes without a ranking. They hold the most votes of any team in the Mid-Am West division, with Colorado State trailing closely behind.

The team gets a couple weeks of practice before beginning the full swing of the season against Utah on March 7 and 8. The three-game series will be played at Scott Carpenter Park and will stream on Sko Buffs Sports YouTube.